Lees-Milne, James

PROPHESYING PEACE [A Sequel to 'Ancestral Voices']

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977. First Edition. Hardcover with Dust Jacket. First American Edition, printed in Great Britain, First Printing with complete number line. Sewn binding in green cloth. viii, 254pp. B/W portrait frontispiece. FINE copy, exceedingly clean and sharp in FINE jacket with price intact. 'Prophesying Peace continues James Lees-Milne's absorbing wartime diaries. Whereas Ancestral Voices covered the years 1942 and 1943 when the author returned to the National Trust after a short term in the army, this volume carries the story on until September 1945. In it Mr. Lees-Milne recounts with singular candor many more anecdotes of his relations with the owners of historic properties, large and small, as they continued to negotiate with the National Trust. 'A diary must be spontaneous,' he writes. 'It must not be doctored. It reflects the author's shifting moods, tastes, prejudices and even beliefs. The candid diarist is not to be known by his diaries, for he is an irrational being, a weathercock, a piece of chaff drifting on every wind of circumstance. And if anyone needs proof of this assertion, he has only to look beneath the mask into his own soul.' This new book gives a picture of the author's work in the country and in London, where he lived during the height of the bombing, and also of the convivialities of leisure. Like Ancestral Voices, it offers sparkling entertainment as well as shrewd insights into the social and cultural life of the period.' (From the DJ flap). FINE / FINE. Item #510465
ISBN: 0684156466

Price: $75.00