[Rarebooks] FS: Part I: Books about War including books signed by Churchill, Eisenhower, Mussolini, etc.

[Charles Agvent]

1.  BENET,  Stephen  Vincent. NIGHTMARE AT NOON.  New  York:  Farrar &
Rinehart  (1940).  First Edition. Eight-pages, bound in  stapled  gray
printed  wraps,  of  this  poem  warning  America  "to  awake  to  the
totalitarian  menace." Boldly SIGNED by Benet on the half title  page.
Minor soiling to wraps. Near Fine                               $85.00

2.  CHURCHILL,  Winston. THEIR FINEST HOUR. Volume Two of  THE  SECOND
WORLD  WAR. London: The Reprint Society (1951). Reprint. Published two
years  after the first edition. Nicely INSCRIBED (without a name)  and
SIGNED  by the author on the front endpaper: "I am so much  obliged/to
you./Winston Churchill." Very Good, lacking the dustwrapper.  $4000.00

3.  EISENHOWER,  Dwight. CRUSADE IN EUROPE. Garden  City:  Doubleday &
Company,  Inc. 1948. First Edition. First Edition preceding the  trade
edition.  Copy  #1411  of 1426 deluxe numbered copies  SIGNED  by  the
author  on the facsimile page of the D-Day Order to send the troops to
storm  the beaches of Normandy, which begins: "You are about to embark
upon  the  Great  Crusade,  toward which we have  striven  these  many
months.  The eyes of the world are upon you." Acetate with small  chip
at  heel of spine; slipcase lightly soiled. Fine in Very Good original
acetate and slipcase, scarce thus.                            $4500.00

4.  EISENHOWER, Dwight. THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS. WAGING PEACE 1956-1961.
Garden  City:  Doubleday  & Company, Inc. 1965. First  Edition.  First
Trade  Edition; illustrated with photographs. INSCRIBED and SIGNED  by
the  author  on  the half-title page: "For/Ted ----/with  best  wishes
from/Dwight  Eisenhower."  Rather uncommon signed in the  book  rather
than  on  a  bookplate  pasted into the book. Near  Fine  in  a  Good,
somewhat tired dustwrapper.                                   $1000.00

5.  EISENHOWER, Dwight. THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS. WAGING PEACE 1956-1961.
Garden   City:  Doubleday  &  Company,   Inc.  1965.  First   Edition.
Illustrated  with  photographs. Copy #92 of 1434 SIGNED by the  author
on  the  blank  page facing the limitation page, as  issued.  Although
there  is no indication of such, this copy is from the library of  the
late  Minnesota  Governor  Harold  Stassen  and  has  a  statement  of
provenance  from the bookseller who purchased the library. A perennial
candidate  for the Republican Party nomination for President,  seeking
it   nine  times  between  1948  and   1992,  Stassen  never  won  the
nomination.  Stassen played a key role in the 1952 Republican  contest
when  he  released  his delegates to Dwight David  Eisenhower  helping
Eisenhower  to  defeat  Robert  Taft on the  first  ballot.  President
Franklin  Roosevelt  named Stassen to the American delegation  to  the
first  United  Nations  conference in San Francisco, where  he  helped
write  the  UN  Charter  and was voted the  most  effective  delegate.
Stassen  held  cabinet rank in the Eisenhower  Administration.  Slight
crease  at  the top of the signature page. With the  original  mailing
carton.  Seldom  seen in this condition. Fine in  glassine,  slipcase,
and original shipping box.                                    $1500.00

6.  [MACARTHUR,  Douglas] WHITNEY, Major General Courtney.  MACARTHUR.
HIS  RENDEZVOUS  WITH HISTORY. New York: Alfred A. Knopf  1956.  First
Edition.  An  account  of  Macarthur's  life  from  his  time  in  the
Philippines  through  the  surrender of Japan to his recall  from  the
Korean  War and what he did afterward. SIGNED by both the subject  and
the  author  on the front free endpaper. On the front  pastedown  is a
bookplate  presenting  the  book  from George  E.  Stringfellow,  vice
president  and  general manager of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., to Karl  L.
Friedrichs. Near Fine in a Very Good or better dustwrapper.    $850.00

7.  MAILER,  Norman.  THE NAKED AND THE DEAD. New York:  Rinehart  and
Company  Inc.  (1948).  First  Edition. Quite a decent  copy  of  this
literary  titan's first book. Only mild rubbing to the spine tips  and
corners,   much  less  than  usually   encountered.  The  first  issue
dustwrapper  is complete with very light edgewear, mild sunning to the
spine,  and several scratches to the rear panel. Above average copy of
this bulky, fragile book.                                     $1000.00

8.  MUSSOLINI,  Benito.  MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY. New  York:  Scribner  1928.
First  Edition.  Original gilt-lettered green cloth. Illustrated  with
photographs.  SIGNED by the dictator on the title page and very scarce
thus.  Books  signed  by the Italian Prime Minister  and  the  supreme
Fascist  ruler,  Il Duce, rarely come on the market, and when they  do
they  are usually books from his library and not books written by him.
This,  his autobiography, is especially desireable. Fine, bright copy,
lacking the dustwrapper. Rare!                                $2500.00

-- 

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CHARLES AGVENT
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Mertztown, PA  19539-8750
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