- 25
Churchill, Sir Winston
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- ink and paper
Arms and the Covenant: Speeches on Foreign Affairs and National Defence. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1938
8vo (9 x 6 1/4 in.; 229 x 159 mm). Frontispiece of Churchill; some foxing and offsetting to preliminaries and title-page. Publisher's gilt-stamped blue cloth, in printed yellow dust jacket (restored).
8vo (9 x 6 1/4 in.; 229 x 159 mm). Frontispiece of Churchill; some foxing and offsetting to preliminaries and title-page. Publisher's gilt-stamped blue cloth, in printed yellow dust jacket (restored).
Literature
Jenkins, Roy, Churchill: A Biography (2001)
Catalogue Note
First edition, presentation copy inscribed to the head of the RAF Fighter Command as he prepared for the Battle of Britain, "To Hugh Dowding from Winston Churchill, June 14 1940."
Appointed the first head of the Fighter Command in 1936, Hugh Dowding rose through the ranks of command of the Royal Air Force after attending the Royal Military College and proving his military prowess in World War I. His remarkable capacity to grasp scientific principles helped him create the first effective air defense system. On 16 May 1940, Dowding wrote a letter imploring the recently appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill to keep the majority of the RAF's squadrons in Britain, rather than send them to France. Churchill headed Dowding's advice and preserved British resources should she need to fight on alone. Churchill inscribed this copy of the collection of his orations on national defense to Dowding on 14 June 1940, the day Paris fell.
Churchill knew that a French collapse meant Germany would turn its focus on Britain. As described in many of the speeches in Covenant, Churchill recognized that the key to victory in any upcoming military engagements would be the air force. As a result, the British government expanded the RAF significantly in the years preceeding World War II, which ultimately allowed Hugh Dowding to keep Germany from overcoming Britain in one of the most notable battles of the war. Churchill reflected on the success of the RAF pilots who fought so valiantly in the Battle of Britain: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" (ODNB).
A remarkable association copy with an evocative Churchill inscription
Appointed the first head of the Fighter Command in 1936, Hugh Dowding rose through the ranks of command of the Royal Air Force after attending the Royal Military College and proving his military prowess in World War I. His remarkable capacity to grasp scientific principles helped him create the first effective air defense system. On 16 May 1940, Dowding wrote a letter imploring the recently appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill to keep the majority of the RAF's squadrons in Britain, rather than send them to France. Churchill headed Dowding's advice and preserved British resources should she need to fight on alone. Churchill inscribed this copy of the collection of his orations on national defense to Dowding on 14 June 1940, the day Paris fell.
Churchill knew that a French collapse meant Germany would turn its focus on Britain. As described in many of the speeches in Covenant, Churchill recognized that the key to victory in any upcoming military engagements would be the air force. As a result, the British government expanded the RAF significantly in the years preceeding World War II, which ultimately allowed Hugh Dowding to keep Germany from overcoming Britain in one of the most notable battles of the war. Churchill reflected on the success of the RAF pilots who fought so valiantly in the Battle of Britain: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" (ODNB).
A remarkable association copy with an evocative Churchill inscription