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This full, six-volume, U.S. first edition, first printing set of Winston Churchill's monumental biography of his great ancestor, the first Duke of Marlborough, is inscribed and dated by the author in Volume I for a U.S. Army veteran of the First and Second World Wars, and accompanied by a presentation letter. Churchill wrote in three lines on the upper front free endpaper recto: "Inscribed by | Winston S. Churchill | 1946". Laid in is a 4 May 1946 typed letter signed on embossed House of Commons stationery presenting the book. Addressed from Churchill's London Home "28, Hyde Park Gate, London, S.W.7." the letter reads "Dear Colonel Stratton, Mr. Churchill has been pleased to sign Mrs. Kent's book which you brought over from the United States. I therefore return it herewith." Following the "Yours sincerely," valediction, the letter is signed "Nina Sturdee" by Churchill's Principal Personal Secretary.The British first edition was issued in four volumes. The U.S. publisher split the first two volumes into two books each, resulting in a six-volume set otherwise identical in content to the British. Both the U.S. and British first editions were published between 1933 and 1938. Upon publication of the sixth and final volume, the publisher chose to issue full sets of first edition volumes in uniform blue and gold dust jackets. Inscribed U.S. sets are scarcer than their British counterparts.This set features clean, near-fine volumes in very good or better dust jackets. All six volumes are first printing, confirmed by the Scribner s "A" on the copyright page. Overall, the green cloth bindings are square, clean, bright, and tight, with sharp corners, vivid spine gilt, with only trivial shelf wear to extremities. The inscribed Volume I shows bruised corners, and a few small, faint blemishes to the front cover. The contents are clean and bright, with no previous ownership marks. Very light spotting appears confined to the otherwise clean fore and top edges. The lower Volume I front pastedown gutter shows a short, cosmetic split to the endpapers, exposing the intact mull beneath and not affecting binding integrity. The dust jackets are all bright and highly complete, with fractional loss confined to spine ends and flap fold corners. All six jackets are unclipped, retaining the original "$2.75" upper front flap prices. Wear is modest various superficial scuffing, edgewear, and short closed tears - with the exception of a 2.5 inch long vertical scuff to the Volume IV lower spine. All six dust jackets are protected beneath clear, removable, archival covers.The recipient of this inscribed copy, Brigadier General James Hobson Stratton (1898-1984) was a West Point graduate and who served in both World Wars and almost the entirety of his 30-year U.S. Army career in the Corps of Engineers. During the Second World War he headed the Engineering Branch of the Corps Construction Division and then became the staff officer responsible for logistics planning in the U.S. Army s European Theater (ETOUSA). He was awarded both the Legion of Merit (1944) and the Army Distinguished Service Medal (1945). He rose to the wartime rank of Brigadier General, reverting to Colonel in January 1946, explaining why he was addressed by that rank in May. When he received this inscribed book, Stratton had just been named special engineering assistant to the governor of the Panama Canal. In 1949 Colonel Stratton was allowed to retire from the Army at his wartime rank of Brigadier-General.The woman who presented this book to Stratton on Churchill s behalf was Nina Edith "Jo" Sturdee (1922-2006), later Countess of Onslow, "one of the most significant of Churchill s personal secretaries… She served Churchill during the war years of 1942 to 1945, after which she became his main Personal Secretary from 1945 to 1953."References: Cohen A97.4(I-VI).a; Woods/ICS A49(ba); Langworth p.169; National Academy of Engineering; The New York Times Obituary 21 March 1984; Stelzer, Working wit.
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