THE MEMOIRS OF FIELD-MARSHALL THE VISCOUNT MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN, K.G.

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author, and by Winston S. Churchill, for the chairman of Churchill's local Conservative Association on the occasion of the unveiling of the Winston Churchill statue at Woodford Green, 1959. Publisher's original purple cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated with black and white photographs throughout. A very good or better copy, the binding square and firm with minor bumping at the spine tips, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents, with spotting to the front and rear endpapers are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the near fine lightly rubbed dustwrapper that has a few marks to the rear panel and is otherwise without fading, loss or tears. Not price-clipped (35s net to the lower front flap). Housed in a bespoke, quarter black morocco solander case.

Inscribed by the author in blue ink on the front endpaper "To Alderman Dalton [underlined] / on the occasion of the unveiling of the Winston Churchill statue / Montgomery of Alamein F.M. / 31 October 1959." Beneath this, Winston Churchill has signed in black ink. A remarkable association copy signed by the wartime British Prime Minister and his most celebrated general, Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Rare thus. The recipient, Alderman Roy A. Dalton, served throughout the 1950s as chairman of the Woodford Conservative Association, representing Churchill's constituency during the period when he was Member of Parliament for Woodford (1945–1964). In 1958 the Sir Winston Churchill Commemoration Fund commissioned the sculptor David McFall (1919–1988) to create a statue of Churchill for the Woodford constituency. McFall had trained under Eric Gill and later worked with Jacob Epstein. Initially working from photographs, the sculptor was later granted several sittings by Churchill at Chartwell, his country home in Kent. These sittings, Churchill's last for any sculptor, resulted in six busts in addition to the Woodford statue. The statue was unveiled on 30 October 1959 by Field Marshal Montgomery. Churchill himself attended the ceremony and delivered a brief speech reflecting on the gradual dissolution of the British Empire and Britain's future role in the world. The Woodford statue was one of only two statues of Churchill completed and unveiled during his lifetime.