The Peddled Shore. The Memoirs of Elizabeth Longford

London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986. These delightful memoirs, written with great warmth and charm, cover the first sixty years of Lady Longford's eventful life, ending in 1969 with her biography, "Wellington: The Years of the Sword," winning the Yorkshire Post Literary Prize and the tragic death of her daughter Catherine. Lady Longford was the eldest daughter of the distinguised Harley Street doctor, Bishop N. Harman, and his wife Katherine, niece of the statesman Joseph Chamberlain and first cousin to the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. She recounts numerous lively anecdotes about her friends and relatives...from the many members of the Chamberlain and Parkenham families to such well-known peresonalities as David Cecil, John Betjeman, Evelyn Waugh, Dick Crossman, Harold Wilson, Sir James Fawcett and Nicko Henderson....and gives highly entertaining portraits of her family. Very well illustrated with 16 pages of b/w photos. Attractive blue boards....heavy gilt lettering to spine. Pale yellow endpapers. Bookplate to fep, name to prelim. A lovely bright copy written by a much admired woman.. First English Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Fine.