Philip Guedalla — Palmerston the Duke

London, Ernest Benn Limited, 1926; 1931. First edition. Leather. A smart pair of half morocco biographies by English barrister and popular travel and historical writer, Philip Guedalla. A smart pair of biographical works, bound in half brown morocco and tan cloth boards, with elegant gilt tooling to both spines, marbled endpapers, and gilt top edges.Featuring volume one, a first edition.Penned by Philip Guedalla, an English barrister and popular travel writer, as well as the author of several historical and biographical titles. He is known for his witty style, and influenced biographers perspectives on the work of Henry James.Guedalla was also President of the British Zionist Federation, and of the Jewish Historical Society of England, in addition to his role as the Chairman of a joint committee made up of the British Council, the Foreign Office, the Overseas Trade Department, the British Film Institute, and the Travel Association. This committee was responsible for the selection and production of British documentaries for overseas distribution.Volume one features a monochrome frontispiece and tissue guard, printed with annotations identifying the figures depicted. Volume one also features fifteen further monochrome plates, including eight pages of facsimile correspondence tipped-in between pp.192-193.Collated, complete. Volume two features a monochrome frontispiece and ten further monochrome plates, including three pages of a facsimile letter tipped-in, and a folding plate of waterloo, with annotated tissue guard. Volume two also features two additional double-page colour maps.Collated, complete.Bound by Zaehnsdorf, with small binder's stamps to front blanks. Bound in original half morocco. Externally, very smart. Mild shelf wear. Moderate closed tear to vol2 head. Vol2 rear joint slightly starting. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright and clean. Very Good . Ill.: Not Stated. Very Good .