[Sword of Honour Trilogy, comprising:] Men at Arms; [with] Officers and Gentlemen; [and] Unconditional Surrender [Signed by Biro]

London: Chapman & Hall [through 1961], 1952. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Three fine First Impression octavo volumes, each signed on the front jacket flap by the legendary illustrator Val Biro (1921-2014). vi,314; [10],335; [8],311. Original publisher's blue cloth, spines stamped in gilt, top edges stained blue; bright red, blue, yellow, and white dust jackets by Biro. Men at Arms (1952): Fine, tight and square with bright gilt and rich top stain; about Fine jacket (just a degree of fading to spine panel, the end of which are briefly rubbed), priced 12s/6d on publisher's label over printed price. Officers and Gentlemen (1955): Fine and unread (top stain lightly spotted); Fine jacket (spine panel barely lightened), priced 12s/6d. Unconditional Surrender (1961): Fine and apparently unread (single pinhead stain to fore-edge); about Fine jacket (price-clipped), completely unfaded, vibrant and bright. In all, a superb set, rarely seen seen in such condition, let alone signed (no other such set we know of exists). Davis XXVI, XXX, XXXV. Burgess 99, pp. 61-62. Callil and Toibin 200, 39. "Sword of Honour is not merely the story of one man's battles; it is the whole history of the European struggle itself, told with verve, humour, pathos and sharp accuracy." (Burgess). Never planned as a trilogy. Following Officers and Gentlemen, the second installment, Waugh decided he had said all he had to say about Guy Crouchback, heir of a declining aristocratic English Roman Catholic family who, like Waugh, participated in the Dakar expedition, served a stint with the commandos, experienced the débâcle on Crete, and ended the war in Yugoslavia. But Waugh later changed his mind and completed the sequence with Unconditional Surrender. In 1966, he pruned, revised and issued the trilogy as Sword of Honour (the title is drawn from the ceremonial sword, the "Sword of Stalingrad," made "at the King's command," to be presented in recognition of the sacrifices the Soviets had made against the Nazis.) But, according to Burgess, "Most readers prefer to take the items severally and in their unrevised form." In the event, the trilogy is generally regarded as Waugh's greatest achievement in fiction, with its "fine war reportage and superb comic action." According to Christopher Sykes (Waugh's biographer), the trilogy is "the very highest class of English fiction . . . not surpassed by any other book he wrote." Waugh received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Men at Arms. Note: With few exceptions (always noted), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.