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Bible Signed by Winston Churchill with Signed Letter + Envelope Addressed to Miss Larsen, 1946

Bible, inscribed to Nurse Astrid Larsen and signed by Winston Churchill – The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Translated out of the Original Greek: and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesty’s special command A.D. 1611.
London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1929.

Original soft black leather, front cover lettered in gilt, black endpapers, gilt edges, black silk marker.

Spine and edges slightly rubbed, front hinge cracked, internally bright.

Also included are a typed letter signed by Churchill’s secretary, written on one page, bifolium on British Legation letter, dated 5 February 1946, with the envelope addressed to Miss A. C. Larsen and postmarked Havana.
The typed letter is slightly toned but otherwise in excellent condition; envelope creased with left side split open.

A token of gratitude, inscribed by Churchill on the front free endpaper, “From Winston S. Churchill to Nurse Astrid C. Larsen, 1946.”

The recipient had worked as a nurse at Lenox Hill hospital and cared for Churchill during his eight-day admission there in 1931. Churchill suffered two broken ribs and a head wound in a traffic accident while stepping out of a cab on Fifth Avenue between 76th and 77th street. Failing to recall the direction of traffic in America, he looked the wrong way and was hit by an oncoming car. “I do not understand”, he wrote while still in hospital, “why I was not broken like an eggshell or squashed like a gooseberry.”

Churchill granted Larsen’s request while on holiday in Cuba during his 1946 visit to America; the Bible was sent from the British Legation in Havana with an accompanying letter from Churchill’s private secretary, Nina Stubbs: “I am desired by Mr Churchill to thank you for your letter of January 24, and for your kindness in writing to him. He has been pleased to sign your Testament as requested, and he asks me to return in herewith with his good wishes.”

Item #106