Paris : Artheme Fayard, Editeur. 18-20 Rue du Saint-Gothard 1912. Edition limited to 45 copies of which this is No.1 of 5 on Papier du Japon
8vo, 359pp, contemporary half brown morocco, marbled boards, raised bands, title in gilt in second compartment, original paper wrappers bound in, ink stamp on flyleaf “Relie par les Mutiles de la Guerre”, armorial bookplate “Ex libris E. L. Spears” on front pastedown and a flourished inscription on the half-title “ à Madame Spears Respecteuse hommage d’un ‘collaborateur’ reconnaisant. Marcel Prévost Decembre 1919”

Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet, KBE, CB, MC (1886-1941)was born of English parents in France and spent his childhood there. As a bi-lingual army officer he had a very important role as liason officer between the British and French in two world wars. Towards the end of the First World War he met a wealthy American lady, May Borden-Turner, who had used her money to set up a field hospital for the French army. They were married in Paris in 1918. She continued her work during the Second World War until de Gaulle, offended by her popularity at the victory parade in Paris in 1945, ordered the unit closed.
Sir Edward, having resigned his commission in 1919, was recalled by Churchill in 1940 to be sent to the French government as his personal representative. He was responsible for bringing General de Gaulle to London as leader of the Free French. [For an extensive account of Spears’ achievements see the article in Wikipedia]