CHESHIRE V.C.
By Russell Braddon
Signed by Leonard Cheshire
Signed on the half title page
“Best wishes
Leonard Cheshire”
Published by Evans. First edition, first impression 1954. 217 pages plus photographs.
Fine condition hardback book. Clean, bright and tight with a Near Fine condition unclipped dustjacket with just a little wear at the top of the spine. A very smart copy in a all respects.
Group Captain Leonard Cheshire had a reputation second to none. This was the first biography of the man who at twenty-eight had won the VC, three DSOs, and the DFC with Bomber Command during WWII and had also witnessed the use of the atomic bomb.
After the war his attempts to found self-governing communities for ex-servicemen ended in financial disaster but helped to settle his lonely struggle for religious certainty and eventually his charity work flourished.
Although not the most comprehensive account of Cheshire’s life as it was written in 1954, the contemporaneous, bold, clear Cheshire signature with an undedicated inscription makes this book rather special.