WILDE, Oscar.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Marlborough. First edition, signed limited issue, number 122 of 155 copies signed by the author. "One million words long and ten years in the making, Marlborough is Churchill's greatest biography. It may be his greatest book" (Langworth, p. 164). This is the only signed limited issue of any of Churchill's major books.During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1715), Churchill's ancestor, the first Duke of Marlborough, led allied forces to victory against Louis XIV; his triumphs at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet mark him as one of the great captains of history. Churchill was given exclusive access to the Blenheim archives to research the book. On publication, the work "took its place at once among the classics of historical writing. As the story of his ancestor's leadership of a grand alliance to prevent the domination of the continent by a single power, it was also a source of inspiration to Churchill in his campaign against appeasement" (ODNB).Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine, and presidential candidate in the 1996 and 2000 US elections.

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