The Navy of Britain. A Historical Portrait. COSWAY STYLE BINDING WITH UNIQUE PROVENANCE.

First Edition. 8vo., title, half-title, colour frontispiece protected with tissue guard, profusely illustrated throughout with numerous monochrome illustrations and diagrams, including one folding plate. Published by George Allen and Unwin Ltd (London), 1948.

Finely bound in a later Cosway-style full navy full morocco by Bayntun Riviere in Bath with their binder's signature to the front turn-in, the upper cover with inset hand-coloured oval portrait of Admiral Hood (1724-1816) under glass, the miniature within a gilt-tooled border, double rule gilt border to covers, foliate spray corner pieces, spine separated into compartments by five raised bands finished in gilt, lettered and decorated in gilt, all edges gilt, turn-ins with gilt fillets, watered silk endpapers, red morocco gilt bookplate of W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey to front pastedown.

A fine example.

This work provides a comprehensive history of the Royal Navy's origins, ships, officers, seamen, administration, important battles, weaponry, and military tactics.

Professor Michael Lewis (1890-1970) was a leading British Naval Historian and Academic. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, Professor Lewis became Assistant Master at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and served in the Royal Marine Artillery during WWI. In 1922, he was appointed as the Assistant Head of History and English at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. In 1934, Professor Lewis was appointed as Professor of History and English at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and in 1946 became Director of the Sub-Lieutenant's General Education Course, before retiring from teaching in 1955. Professor Lewis was a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and a Fellow of the Society of Arts (FSA).

Professor Lewis authored nine books on Naval History: England's Sea Officers (1939), British Ships and British Seamen (1942), The Navy of Britain (1948), The History of the British Navy (1959), A Social History of the Navy, 1793-1815 (1960), The Spanish Armada (1960), Armada Guns (1961), Napoleon and his British Captives (1962), and The Navy in Transition, 1814-64 (1965).

This copy has a unique and notable provenance having been owned by William Foyle (1883-1963), who co-founded the famous Foyles bookshop with his brother Gilbert, on Charing Cross Road in London. In 1943 William Foyle acquired the former medieval monastery of Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon in Essex, and put together one of the world's greatest private book collections, which he kept in the former monastic dormitory. Following William Foyle's passing in 1963, the abbey and book collection were inherited by his daughter Christina.

Christina left her estate to the Foyle Foundation, and after she passed away in 1999, the book collection was sold by Christies in July 2000, where it achieved a world record sales total. Unbeknown to the public, in a private agreement with Christies prior to the sale, many books from the collection were acquired by William's grandson Christopher, the nephew of Christina. Christopher also bought back the abbey and Foyles bookshop from the Foyle Foundation charity trustees at market value.

Christopher worked tirelessly to rejuvenate the Foyle's bookshop and sold the business to Waterstones in 2018. Christopher and his wife Catherine additionally undertook significant restoration of Beeleigh Abbey, and added greatly to the book collection. Christopher received an OBE for services to publishing, aviation and charity, and served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Christopher passed away in August 2022 at the age of 79. Leo McKinstry, the British journalist, historian, and author, commented on his close friend Christopher after his passing:

"He was a distinguished entrepreneur and philanthropist, with an eclectic range of interests that reflected his lively, inquiring mind. His instinct for hard work was accompanied by gregarious, humorous, generous nature and an openness to maverick ideas. The manner of his passing mirrored his character, positive to the last. Having contracted a rare form of cancer, he fought heroically for years against the illness, never complaining, never far from laughter."

(Maldon Standard.) (US Naval Institute.) (Navy Records Society.) (Royal Museums Greenwich.)

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