All souls and appeasement: A Contribution to Contemporary History

London: Macmillan a& Co., 1961. vii, [1], 121pp, [1]. With a photographic frontispiece and a further seven photographic plates. Original publisher's navy cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Without dustwrapper. A trifle rubbed and cocked. Internally clean and crisp. Armorial bookplate of Anthony Eden loosely inserted. Presentation copy, ink inscription to recto of FFEP: 'With kindest wished from A L Rowse'. The first edition of historian Alfred Leslie Rowse's (1903- 1997) analysis of the social and psychological roots of Chamberlain's policy of appeasement, in particular the involvement of alumni of All Souls College, Oxford, of which Rowse was a fellow. 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. . First edition. 8vo.