HEWINS, Ralph. Quisling: Prophet without Honour (signed with ALS)

£75.00

HEWINS, Ralph. Quisling: Prophet without Honour. New York: John Day Company. 1966. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine with (presumably the publisher’s) red title sticker over. In the dust jacket. This copy inscribed by the author at length to Whitney Straight, dated 1/3/72, with an additional letter penned by the author and dated on the same day.

An intriguing association copy of this rather controversial biography of Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian wartime leader who collaborated with the Nazi state. For his crimes, Quisling was eventually sentenced to the firing squad, his name a synonym for treachery, yet the true nature of his collaboration has in more recent years been at least somewhat reconsidered.

Upon publication, Hewins faced criticism for his apparent revisionist analysis of Quisling. Yet the inscription might suggest a basis for this account—it reads ‘I undertake to remove none of the material which Mr Whitney Straight has allowed me to see. I will not quote or in any way reproduce the material shown to me without the Straight’s permission”. Straight was an air commodore (and later Grand Prix driver among many other roles) who was sent to Norway in 1940 to locate and extradite to Britain the Norwegian king, Haakon. One can certainly wonder whether Straight’s material or his first-hand account influenced Hewins’ apparently revisionist viewpoint.

A very good copy, the cloth a trifle faded at tips, textblock edgeds dust-marked but the binding tight and square, the contents fine. The dust jacket price-clipped with several small nicks and shallow chips, some rubbing and a little grubby to the white segments of the design. Nevertheless uncommon.

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HEWINS, Ralph. Quisling: Prophet without Honour. New York: John Day Company. 1966. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine with (presumably the publisher’s) red title sticker over. In the dust jacket. This copy inscribed by the author at length to Whitney Straight, dated 1/3/72, with an additional letter penned by the author and dated on the same day.

An intriguing association copy of this rather controversial biography of Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian wartime leader who collaborated with the Nazi state. For his crimes, Quisling was eventually sentenced to the firing squad, his name a synonym for treachery, yet the true nature of his collaboration has in more recent years been at least somewhat reconsidered.

Upon publication, Hewins faced criticism for his apparent revisionist analysis of Quisling. Yet the inscription might suggest a basis for this account—it reads ‘I undertake to remove none of the material which Mr Whitney Straight has allowed me to see. I will not quote or in any way reproduce the material shown to me without the Straight’s permission”. Straight was an air commodore (and later Grand Prix driver among many other roles) who was sent to Norway in 1940 to locate and extradite to Britain the Norwegian king, Haakon. One can certainly wonder whether Straight’s material or his first-hand account influenced Hewins’ apparently revisionist viewpoint.

A very good copy, the cloth a trifle faded at tips, textblock edgeds dust-marked but the binding tight and square, the contents fine. The dust jacket price-clipped with several small nicks and shallow chips, some rubbing and a little grubby to the white segments of the design. Nevertheless uncommon.

HEWINS, Ralph. Quisling: Prophet without Honour. New York: John Day Company. 1966. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine with (presumably the publisher’s) red title sticker over. In the dust jacket. This copy inscribed by the author at length to Whitney Straight, dated 1/3/72, with an additional letter penned by the author and dated on the same day.

An intriguing association copy of this rather controversial biography of Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian wartime leader who collaborated with the Nazi state. For his crimes, Quisling was eventually sentenced to the firing squad, his name a synonym for treachery, yet the true nature of his collaboration has in more recent years been at least somewhat reconsidered.

Upon publication, Hewins faced criticism for his apparent revisionist analysis of Quisling. Yet the inscription might suggest a basis for this account—it reads ‘I undertake to remove none of the material which Mr Whitney Straight has allowed me to see. I will not quote or in any way reproduce the material shown to me without the Straight’s permission”. Straight was an air commodore (and later Grand Prix driver among many other roles) who was sent to Norway in 1940 to locate and extradite to Britain the Norwegian king, Haakon. One can certainly wonder whether Straight’s material or his first-hand account influenced Hewins’ apparently revisionist viewpoint.

A very good copy, the cloth a trifle faded at tips, textblock edgeds dust-marked but the binding tight and square, the contents fine. The dust jacket price-clipped with several small nicks and shallow chips, some rubbing and a little grubby to the white segments of the design. Nevertheless uncommon.