CHURCHILL | autograph letter signed, to Pamela, Countess of Lytton, 1907

CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("W."), TO PAMELA, COUNTESS OF LYTTON

writing in extravagant terms, following a dinner with David Lloyd George, of his regret that he is unavailable to meet ("...to night my heart is sorrowful to think how little I see of you...") and his disgruntlement at having to return to his regiment for annual manoeuvres at Thame Park ("...I am a toiler - and now live in a tent in extreme discomfort - both as regards weather & bed clothes..."), also referring to a recent controversial speech ("...I stirred up the animals with a long pole at Edinburgh..."), with two pen and ink sketches of cats beside the signature, 5 pages, 8vo, integral blank, headed stationery of 12 Bolton Street, London, 23 May 1907

"...It is a squalid world. There is only one star in the gloom; & that rises & sets on different horizons as the globe revolves..."

AN EFFUSIVE LETTER TO HIS FIRST LOVE. Pamela Plowden had rejected Churchill's proposal in 1900 and had married Victor, Earl Lytton, two years later, but this letter shows the close friendship that the two were to maintain for the rest of their lives, even if - as seems likely - Churchill wrote this letter when well lubricated by the refreshments that will have flowed freely at his dinner with Lloyd George. This letter was written when Churchill held his first ministerial post, Under-secretary at the Colonial Office, and in the aftermath of a major Colonial Conference.

PROVENANCE:

Christie's, London, 2 December 2003, lot 62

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