PAINTING AS A PASTIME -“Gump’s” Limited Edition-

San Francisco, Beverly Hills: Gump’s Department Store, 1985. Limited Edition (Cohen A242.7) (A125c). Hardcover. Very Good. 4to (28 pages). This is a rare limited edition produced by the west coast Gump’s department store chain in 1985. The colophon reads: "Gump's is privileged to have been granted permission to reprint PAINTING AS A PASTIME in a limited edition of 500 copies in honor of the Exhibition, ‘British Style,’ October 1985.” The book reproduces the contents and design of the elegant little Cornerstone Library hardcover edition of 1965, absent that edition’s 18 color plates of paintings. This is a near-mint copy, as issued without a dust jacket; Number 197 of 500 copies. It is inscribed in ink on the second front free endpaper by Winston Churchill’s grandson, who contributed a brief, new introduction to this volume: “To Morelos, from Winston Churchill.” There are two other inscriptions relating to the book in other unidentifiable hands, one on the front free endpaper and another beneath Winston Churchill’s signature. Laid-in also is the original Gump’s invoice made out to “The Countess de Morelos” and a newscutting advertising the event, dated Oct. 16 1985. BRENDA HELSER, a glamorous 1940s American Olympic swimmer, married the Comte de Morelos in 1950. After living in Europe for many years, she returned to the U.S. in 1981.