AMERY, Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett. My Political Life London, Hutchinson, [1953- 1955].
Three volumes, 8vo. Original sturdy cloth with illustrated dust-wrapper (not price-clipped); pp. 492; 536; 464; plates after photographs, a near fine set, rarely found complete and in the wrappers, which are not price-clipped; ownership inscriptions Bowie in lower outer corners of front fly-leaves..
First edition of these important political memoirs covering the period from the last years of Queen Victoria's reign to 1940. The politician and journalist Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery served as intelligence officer specialised on the Balkans due to his knowledge of languages and later focussed on the geopolitics of the Middle East. A lifelong Zionist he supported the foundation of Israel, having drafted the agreed text of the Balfour declaration in 1917. He abstained from voting on the Munich agreements and worked with Churchill to press for a national government and war cabinet. 'In the twentieth century few, if any, British politicians who built their careers round a vision of a consolidated empire or Commonwealth gained recognition at the highest level, Amery among them' (ODNB).
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