MARLBOROUGH: His Life and Times -Signed Presentation First English Edition Set in Dust Jackets-

First English Edition Set. The majestic biography of John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough; soldier, statesman, hard-headed Churchillian ancestor. First published in England as a lush four-volume set. Published in the U.S. as a somewhat less deluxe production, subdivided by Scribners into a six-volume set. This virtually mint First English edition set in dust jackets is inscribed and signed in Volume I: "To Bishop Welldon, from Winston S. Churchill - September 1933." BISHOP JAMES WELLDON was the headmaster of Harrow School from 1885-1898 and an acknowledged powerful influence on Winston Churchill's early life. When the young Churchill nearly flunked the Harrow entrance examination (answering not a single question in the Latin section), Mr. Welldon nevertheless "drew the conclusion that I was worthy to pass into Harrow," as Churchill later wrote in his memoir, MY EARLY LIFE. "It is very much to his credit. It showed he was a man capable of looking beneath surface of things: a man not dependant upon paper manifestations. I have always had the greatest regard for him."The books and jackets are in unusually fine condition. The very fade-prone cloth of this particular set is here uniquely bright and unfaded, particularly along the notoriously problematic spines. The jackets are unclipped, save for Volume I, which is widely price-clipped, suggesting it may be the Second Impression dust jacket that matches the first in every respect except for the words: "Second Impression" on the lower front flap edge, here clipped. The pastedown opposite the signature page of Volume I is discreetly ink-stamped: "Field and Lewis Library" with a ceremonial memorial bookplate: "In Memory of John Chapman-Walker - B.I. 1921-1925." The contents are otherwise fine. 8vo (2,500+ pages, illustrated with photogravures, facsimile letters, maps and plans.) (Cohen A97.2[I-IV].a) (Woods A40aa).…