Churchill (Winston Spencer)
My Early Life. Inscribed, Odhams Press. 1947

My Early Life. A Roving Commission, inscribed ‘To A.E.King from Winston S. Churchill’ to front endpaper, original cloth, gilt, original dust-jacket, [Woods A37(g.1), 8vo., Odhams Press, 1947. A fine copy.

*** A. E. King, WWII submarine commander who was married to Winston Churchill’s cousin. He joined the Royal Navy and by 1931 was serving aboard submarines.
He was awarded the DSO and DSC after sinking six enemy ships in the North Sea. After the war, King married Churchill’s cousin, the Irish-born writer Anne Theodosia Moira (“Anita”) Rodzianko, nee Leslie. King designed his own yacht, the “Galway Blazer”, and in 1968 began his quest to sail single-handedly around the world. It took him five years to do so and he reached Plymouth in 1973, making him the first man to do so by rounding the five great capes – the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin off western Australia, the south-east Cape of Tasmania, the south-west Cape of Stewart Island (New Zealand), and the Horn.” King eventually authored three memoirs, a sailing guide, and a novel and died at the age of 102.