Books

First edition, first impression, presentation copy to his aunt, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "To Leonie from Winston, October 1937, with all my love". Leonie Blanche (née Jerome), Lady Leslie (1859-1943), was from a prominent American banking family, one of three daughters who all married into the British upper class. Her sister Jennie married Churchill's father Randolph, and she married the Irish aristocrat Sir John Leslie. Her son Shane became one of Churchill's closest friends. Compared to the cold and distant relationship Churchill had with his parents, his relationship with Leonie was much warmer. His son recalled she was Churchill's "favourite aunt" (Churchill, p. xxxii). She filled a maternal role absent from his distant mother and doted on him as her first nephew. Churchill's inscription, "with all my love", is unusually affectionate - he rarely uses such language in his inscriptions, even with family members and close friends. Churchill stayed in touch with her for the rest of her life, and she lived long enough to see Churchill lead the country as prime minister. Great Contemporaries collects Churchill's essays on the outstanding figures of his age, including reflections on T. E. Lawrence, Trotsky, and Hitler; "it is, of course, an important part of the canon and belongs in every library" (Langworth, p. 179). On 8 October 1937, Leonie wrote to Churchill, "Thank you 1000 times dearest Winston for remembering to send me your delightful new book - we are all reading it with the avidity of hungry wolves!... You write in such beautiful style, it is a joy to read every line" (Churchill Archives, CHAR 8/549). Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, top edge blue. Housed in brown quarter morocco slipcase and cloth chemise. With 21 photographic plates. Spine a little sunned, cloth a little discoloured at extremities, contents a little toned. A very good copy. Cohen A105.1.a (with first state uncorrected text on p. 53); Woods A43(a). Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, Youth, 1966; Richard Langworth, A Connoisseur's Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, 1998.