Author: Winston S. Churchill
Odhams Press Limited, London, 1947.

Inscribed by Churchill in black ink on the front free endpaper to A. E. King, WWII submarine commander who was married to Winston Churchill’s cousin.

“To | A.E. King | from | Winston S. Churchill”

William Donald Aelian “A.E.” King (1910-2012) was a Second World War submarine commander and husband of Churchill’s cousin. King joined the Royal Navy at age 13 and by 1931 was serving aboard submarines. “He was the only submariner to command a British submarine on the first and last day of the Second World War.” King was in command of his third boat when Japan surrendered.

He was awarded the DSO and DSC after sinking six enemy ships in the North Sea, he grounded and successfully refloated his boat off the coast of Holland. After the war, King married Churchill’s cousin, the Irish-born writer Anne Theodosia Moira (“Anita”) Rodzianko, nee Leslie (1914-1985). They had met in Beirut in 1943. By early 1949 she had divorced her first husband and married King.

The newly married couple purchased an old 15th century castle with accompanying land. They restored the castle and turned the land into a farm. King designed his own yacht, the “Galway Blazer”, and in 1968 began his quest to sail single-handedly around the world. It took him five years to do so and he reached Plymouth in 1973, making him the first man to do so by rounding the five great capes – the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin off western Australia, the south-east Cape of Tasmania, the south-west Cape of Stewart Island (New Zealand), and the Horn.” King eventually authored three memoirs, a sailing guide, and a novel and died at the age of 102.

This is the first printing of the Odhams edition, with a leather spine label.
The book is near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
The red cloth is clean and bright.
The dust jacket is un-faded and complete.

Woods A37(g.1)
Cohen A91.9.a

Item #130