8vo. [186]pp. Printed in double columns. Bound by Hatchards in contemporary brown morocco, lettered in gilt, with initials 'W. E.' (likely William Eden (1849-1915), father of Anthony Eden) to upper board. Lightly rubbed. Marbled endpapers, internally clean and crisp. Ink inscriptions to recto of front blank fly-leaf: 'With my best wishes M. H. Xmas 1898. "Friendship maketh day light in the understanding, out of darkness & confusion of thoughts" - Bacon', and: 'Given to Doodles in remembrance of many things by (?) Sybil Eden June. 1916'. From the recently dispersed library of Anthony and Clarissa Eden.

Sir Anthony Eden (1897-1977), British foreign secretary (1935-38, 1940-45, and 1951-55) and Prime Minister (1955-1957). Following active service in the First World War, Eden read Oriental languages at Oxford. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1923. In 1935 he was appointed foreign secretary, a position he resigned in 1938 to protest Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Nazi Germany. When Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, he was named secretary of state for war, and later during the Second World War once more served as foreign secretary. Eden succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister in 1955. In 1956, his failure to respond effectively during the Suez Crisis, and the subsequent loss of party and public support, would ultimately lead to his resignation from office in 1957. He was knighted in 1954 and created earl of Avon in 1961.