Beschreibung:

[Churchill Family]The Blenheim Palace guest book, capturing the "last season" for Britain's aristocracy, 1937-39
Autograph album, 4to (249 x 168 mm). Dark blue calf, gilt fleur-de-lis stamps to upper cover; rubbed at edges and along spine with some loss, covers scratched. Collector's clamshell box.
Containing 44 photographs and circa 395 signatures including a presentation inscription to Sarah Consuelo Spencer Churchill from her mother Alexandra Mary Hilda Cadogan ("from your loving mother"), John Spencer-Churchill- 10th Duke of Marlborough ("your darling father"), Gertrude Vanderbilt (3 times), Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan (3 times), Jacques Balsan, Sir John Charles Peniston ("Buffles") Milbanke (5), Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill ("Randolph S. Churchill"), Robert Lehman, The Hon. Daphne Winifred Louise Fielding ("Daphne Weymouth"), Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich (3), Diana Gilmour, Lady Beith (2), Mary Spencer Churchill, Winston Churchill (3), Clarissa Churchill, John Spencer Churchill Elizabeth Sutherland Leveson-Gower, Eunice Kennedy, Joan Jameson, ("Aunt") Grace Vanderbilt (2), Edith Berry, Viscountess Kemsley, Rosamond Vanderbilt, Ian Fleming (2), Loelia Ponsonby, Duchess of Westminster (2), Ruth "Kitty" Lehman, mainly at Blenheim Palace, also at Saint-Georges Motel, Dreux, The Lodge, Langhold, Dumfreisshire, Casa Alva, Manalapan, Florida, the "Princess" R.Y.S., 39 pages, plus blanks, circa 1937-1939.
Lady Sarah Consuelo Spencer-Churchill's guest book, with signatures and photographs of the integral members of British and American social elites of the late 1930s, immortalizing their parties and haunts during the interwar period—perhaps the last great season.
Lady Sarah Consuelo Spencer-Churchill was the daughter of John Spencer-Churchill-and Alexandra Mary Hilda Cadogan and the granddaughter of Charles Spencer Churchill and Consuelo Vanderbilt (later Balsan) and a cousin of Winston Churchill She inherited her middle name from her American grandmother and remained close to her throughout her life; upon her death in 1965 Consuelo bequeathed the bulk of her estate to "her favorite granddaughter." This guest book was a gift from her mother, with a presentation inscription and photograph pasted to the first page. It was enthusiastically used by the family, evidently passed around at parties and brought with them on shoots and holidays abroad. The result is an astounding selection of autographs that demonstrates the centrality of the Churchill family within the British aristocracy as well as their close bond with important American families. The intermarriage with the Vanderbilts resulted in friendships with the likes of the Kennedys and the Lehmans, as the guest book reveals.
The Churchill family were Dukes of Marlborough, their seat being Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, one of the largest country houses in England and the only non-royal, non-episcopal home to hold the title "palace." The vibrant social scene at Blenheim lives on through the pages, with shoots, parties and Christmases recorded. Recurring names are indicative of close family friendships including with the Berrys, Wallaces, Kelletts, Jamesons, Scotts, and Gilmours. Many members of the Bright Young Things are eternalized, the bohemian group of aristocrats that danced through London and their country manors in the 1920s and 30s, including Daphne Fielding, Loelia Ponsonby, Henry Thynne and John Spencer-Churchill- Below Loelia Ponsonby's autograph is her close friend Ian Fleming's. Winston Churchill was best man at Loelia's wedding to the Duke of Westminster, and Loelia was Ann Charteris's chaperone to Goldeneye, Fleming's retreat in Jamaica, before Ann and Ian got married. Ann's sister Laura would eventually marry John Spencer-Churchill- James Bond's secretary in the novels is named Loelia Ponsonby after his friend.
The guest book accompanied the family on several trips overseas. When Consuelo Vanderbilt caused scandal by divorcing her first husband, Charles Spencer Churchill, she remarried and moved to France, living at Saint-Georges Motel, Dreux. She remained inextricably tied to the Churchills, and this became a favorite place to visit for the family, with two visits there recorded along with photographs of the château. Winston and Clementine Churchill were staying there in September 1939, just before the outbreak of war. A family trip to Casa Alva is also logged, Consuelo's mansion near Palm Beach, named after her mother Alva Vanderbilt. A sojourn aboard the "Princess" R.Y.S. is the last entry, where Fleming and Ponsonby sailed with the Berry family around Deauville in early August, 1939. The yacht was owned by James Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, the newspaper magnate.
The second to last page records Lady Sarah's coming out party, now known as the highlight of "the last season ever". On 7 July 1939, 700 guests flocked to Blenheim including Eunice and John F. Kennedy, Anthony and Clarissa Eden, the Vanderbilt and Churchill clans along with the rest of the beau monde. The Ambrose band played and socialite Henry (Chips) Channon wrote in his diary after, “I have seen much, travelled far and am accustomed to splendour, but there has never been anything like tonight.” Alongside the autographs in the guest book are photographs of party goers swimming fully clothed in the Duchêne fountain in the Palace gardens.
A remarkable treasure memorializing a lost era.
PROVENANCE:Sarah Consuelo Spencer Churchill (gift inscription from her mother Hon. Alexandra Mary Hilda Cadogan)—Swann Galleries, 30 November 2006, lot 26