Beschreibung:

CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer (1874-1965). [War Speeches, in French translation.] L'Entrée en lutte . [ Into Battle .] -- La Lutte sans relâche . [ The Unrelenting Struggle .] -- La Fin du commencement . [ The End of the Beginning .] London: Heinemann & Zsolnay, 1943. 3 volumes, 8° (214 x 135mm). (Edges lightly yellowed.) Burgundy half morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, top edges gilt (endpapers lightly spotted). Provenance : Winston Churchill (binding, inscription dated 1946 to:) -- Charles Montag (1880-1956, artist and art dealer).
CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer (1874-1965). [War Speeches, in French translation.] L'Entrée en lutte . [ Into Battle .] -- La Lutte sans relâche . [ The Unrelenting Struggle .] -- La Fin du commencement . [ The End of the Beginning .] London: Heinemann & Zsolnay, 1943. 3 volumes, 8° (214 x 135mm). (Edges lightly yellowed.) Burgundy half morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, top edges gilt (endpapers lightly spotted). Provenance : Winston Churchill (binding, inscription dated 1946 to:) -- Charles Montag (1880-1956, artist and art dealer). First edition in French of the first three volumes of Churchill's war speeches, EACH VOLUME INSCRIBED BY CHURCHILL TO CHARLES MONTAG , the Swiss painter whom he met in 1920. Montag taught Churchill painting, introducing him to the work of the Impressionists. The two men remained life-long friends, and frequently visited each other to paint together. In 1946 Montag facilitated Churchill's visit to Zurich, where Churchill delivered his speech on a united Europe; it may be on this occasion that Churchill presented him these books. Montag, who was involved in the dissolution of the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris, was suspected by some to have been one of Hitler's art advisors. These suspicions led Douglas Cooper to arrest Montag twice, but both times he was quickly released, presumably at Churchill's behest.