Beschreibung:

CHURCHILL, Winston S. Painting as a Pastime . London: Odhams Press Limited, 1948. 8 o . Half-title, frontispiece photograph of Churchill at his easel. 18 color plates. Cloth boards stamped in gilt, with dust-jacket (slight chipping at edges). In a quarter morocco gilt clamshell case.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Painting as a Pastime . London: Odhams Press Limited, 1948. 8 o . Half-title, frontispiece photograph of Churchill at his easel. 18 color plates. Cloth boards stamped in gilt, with dust-jacket (slight chipping at edges). In a quarter morocco gilt clamshell case. "TREES DON'T COMPLAIN" FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY to his cousin Clare Sheridan, inscribed and signed on flyleaf: "To Clare with love from Winston 1949." Loosely inserted is a 3 June 1949 typed letter signed from Churchill's secretary: "Mr. Churchill has inscribed a copy of his book, Painting as a Pastime , which he sends you with his good wishes..." One of the most beloved and popular of Churchill's books. It "is pure enchantment to read," wrote Churchill's daughter Mary, "throbbing as it does with enthusiasm and encouragement to others to seize brush and canvas and 'have a go.'" Most of the 500 paintings Churchill executed were soothing landscapes that convey the tranquility the painter felt while creating them. "Trees don't complain," Churchill liked to say (Langworth, 287). Sheridan (1885-1970) was the sculptor who strained Churchill's affection by traveling to the Soviet Union in the 1920s, installing herself in the Kremlin and completing sculptures of Lenin, Trotsky, and other prominent Bolshevik leaders. But their mutual affection survived this episode. Woods A125.