BRYANT, Arthur. Triumph in the West 1943-1946. Based on the Diaries and Autobiographical Notes of Field Marshal the Viscount Alanbrooke, K.G., O.M. London: Collins, 1959. First edition, first impression.
Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, in the original dust jacket. Signed by Bryant at the head of the title page and with his additional autograph note at the foot, “and / from the author -”. Above this is Alanbrooke’s full inscription: “In very grateful memory of / the years we worked so closely / together / Brookie.”
From the library of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, KG, GCB, OM, DSO & Bar, MC, DL, Churchill’s wartime Chief of the Air Staff.
A remarkably close high-command association copy. The book is printed-dedicated to “Field Marshal Viscount Alanbrooke, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Viscount Portal of Hungerford, and Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope”, the three service chiefs who, under Churchill, directed Britain’s armed forces in the final and victorious phase of the war. This copy brings together the dedication, Portal’s ownership, Alanbrooke’s personal “Brookie” inscription, and Bryant’s signed confirmation that it came “from the author”.
The relationship between Alanbrooke and Portal lay at the centre of Britain’s wartime direction. Alanbrooke was Chief of the Imperial General Staff and chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee; Portal, as Chief of the Air Staff, was the RAF member of that body. With Cunningham, they formed Churchill’s senior service council, reconciling the competing demands of land, sea and air warfare. Official wartime records show them working together at the highest Anglo-American level on force allocation, Mediterranean operations, the advance into Germany and planning for the war against Japan.
Bryant was not merely a later editor. A former Royal Flying Corps officer, he worked with Alanbrooke’s wartime diaries and retrospective notes to shape their first public presentation in The Turn of the Tide and this concluding volume. His role was to turn Alanbrooke’s private record into the public history of the Chiefs of Staff system in which Portal had served.
An outstanding double-signed Portal association copy. The dust jacket has been expertly conserved, with earlier tears and edge wear professionally repaired and stabilised. It retains excellent colour and presents exceptionally well.
