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JOHNSTON, BRIAN - Edited by Barry Johnston: : LETTERS HOME 1926 - 1945

LONDON.WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON,1998.

ISBN 0297841270.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated 1st edn.NFINE/NFINE. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,montage'd colour photographs - author portrait over a village cricket game scene background photograph with  white-lettere title,and capitalised,embossed gilt-lettered author name and capitalised,white-lettered editor credit; a white spine/backstrip with capitalised,black-lettered author+Editor names,a blue-lettered part+sub-title and publisher's capitalised,black-lettered+ illustrated colophon to foot of same,rear panel with white background and an earlier sepia portrait photograph of author.Negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - one tiny closed 5mm tear on rear top edge towards head of spine,rear top corner tip with light laminate peel,head+foot of spine with miniscule bumping and reciprocal creases - but no other nicks,tears or splits present.Top edges with a tiny blemish near headband area,bright and clean - no foxing/spotting to either sets of edges; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp, unblemished sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettering to spine,and immaculate montage'd author's facsimile sepia handwritted letter reproductions illustrated endpapers.UK,8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,vii-xxxipp+3-383pp [paginated] includes Contents list/table with blank verso, 2pp Illustrations list/table, Editor's Introduction,two double-paged familys' family tree charts - The ALT and CARTER and the JOHNSTON and EYRES respectively,6pp of Biographies of Brian's family,an Eton Glossary,Eton Masters list,Pts I-IV - Eton: 1926-31, Oxford: 1931-34, Coffee: 1934-39, War: 1940-45 and an Epilogue,24pp contemporary b/w biographical photographs in 3 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp160/61,pp224/25 and pp288/89 respectively,Acknowledgements,and an Index; plus [unpaginated] half-title with blank verso,title page,a dedication with blank verso also,and individual Pts + Epilogue separator pages - all with blank verso too.                            Visually the exterior appearance is more than acceptable, and even internally,the book is in an exceptional condition /state of preservation and presentation for a book of its 25-year-old age. It is only the exterior faults described that prevents a slightly higher overall grading. Despite them,it really is an still an exceptional,exemplary example for its cleanliness,brightness and lack of other detracting faults. From the year Brian Johnston went to boarding school in 1920 until he was demobbed in1945,he wrote a letter to his mother almost every week. She kept a great many of them and,to his family's surprise,a bundle of over 400 of Brian's letters were found hidden in a box in his study after his death in 1994.                They cover Brian's years at Eton and Oxford,his job in he family coffee business in the City, Hamburg and Brazil,and his service with the Grenadier Guards during the war.           The letters are warm and affectionate,witty and full of life,and Brian's cheerful personality shines through on every page.They reveal his schoolboy love of bad jokes,cricket and chocolate cake.They disclose how he plays practical jokes at Oxford with his friend William Douglas Home and how,in trying to learn about the coffee business,he dreams of becoming an actor.                                        He recounts meeting leading figures such as Winston Churchill and Lady Astor.In Germany he hears Goebbels speak at a rally.He tells how Alec Douglas-Home borrows his shirt to go to Munich with Neville Chamberlain for his momentous meeting with Adolf Hitler.His war correspondence includes vivid descriptions of jubilation as the Guards Armoured Division liberated towns across France and Belgium at the end of the  war.                             Brian Johnston published several volumes of autobiography,but he wrote little of his early life.These often intimate,letters provide a remarkable insight into one of our most loved radio and television personalities.     Please contact seller,because of the hevier weight of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!      N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.    ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

BIOGRAPHY.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated 1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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