Marlborough His Life and Times by Winston S. Churchill - 1934

George G. Harrap & Company, 1934. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Hardcover. First editions, first impressions. In four volumes, complete. Leather-bound. Large octavo (240 x 170mm), pp. 612; 651; 608; 671. Uniformly bound in exquisite red half-morocco, signed by Period Binders, Bath, England. Five raised spine bands, the compartments and bands gilt ruled, tooled and lettered, red cloth sides, applied red and gilt head-bands, top edge of book blocks gilt, hand marbled pastedown and endpapers. Complete With 325 illustrations, including a frontispiece to each volume, black and white plates, folding maps and battle plans, and facsimile documents, errata slips tipped-in as normal, indexes at rear of each volume. Printed at The Ballantyne Press by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. The monumental biography of Winston's ancestor Sir John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough, and Britain's greatest military strategist.John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough (1644-1722), was one of the greatest military commanders and statesmen in the history of England. Victorious in the Battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, and countless other campaigns, Marlborough, whose political intrigues were almost as legendary as his military skill, never fought a battle he didn't win. Although he helped James II crush the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, Marlborough later supported William of Orange against James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and brilliantly managed England's diplomatic triumphs during the War of the Spanish Succession. "The greatest historical work written in our century, an inexhaustible mine of political wisdom and understanding, which should be required reading for every student of political science." - Leo Strauss, University of Chicago "Rarely in the history of historical writing have author and subject seemed so made for each other" (Henry Steele Commager).