PLOMER, William. Ali the Lion. Ali of Tebeleni Pasha of Jannina 1741-1822. London: Jonathan Cape. [1936].
8vo. Original cloth with dust-wrapper (retaining price), sketch map and eight plates; wrappers with light marginal wear and a little discoloured in places only; a very good copy.
Very rare first edition, more so in the wrappers. Plomer, more known as novelist, writes here a non-fiction book on the Albanian ruler (1741-1822), who almost broke away from the Ottoman Empire a large part of the Balkans, which indirectly helped the Greeks in their struggle for self-determination. This book is one of the best secondary sources on this barbarous, sensual and sadistic ruler who was highly regarded by both Napoleon and Nelson.
William Plomer and Ian Fleming were very good friends, worked together in Naval Intelligence during WW2 and admired each others books. Plomer was instrumental in getting Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, published, and Goldfinger was dedicated to Plomer.
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