War Memories set Signed by Compton Mackenzie plus TL first editions 1929-40

MACKENZIE, Compton. War Memories comprising Gallipoli Memories signed; First Athenian Memories; Greek Memories; and Aegean Memories [along with] a two-page typed letter.

London: Cassell and Company Ltd. / Chatto & Windus, 1929–1940.
 
Four volumes, 8vo, the first three in matching black publisher’s cloth, gilt-lettered and ruled to spines with publisher’s device to foot; the fourth in the larger format, in red boards gilt-lettered to spine. All in the original publisher’s printed dust-wrappers, priced respectively 7/6, 7/6, 8/6 and 12s. 6d. Pagination: Vol I [viii], ix–x, 405, [1] with frontispiece map; Vol II [viii], ix–x, 401, [1]; Vol III [vi], vii–xi, [1], 587, [1] with photographic portrait; Vol IV [vi], vii–xi, [1], 419, [1] with eight illustrations, a map of Greece, and a frontispiece photograph showing the proclamation of the Provisional Government in Syra.
 
Very good copies: boards a little marked in places with light offsetting and some scattered spotting, particularly to the outer edges of the text blocks; a few spine tips slightly pushed. Dust-wrappers with minor rubbing and small nicks at extremities and a couple of short closed tears; unrestored and sound.
 
First editions of all four volumes, volume I signed by the author and dated the year following publication on the front free endpaper.
 
Together with an original two-page typed letter, signed, dated 22 January 1962, from Mackenzie at 6 Weller Court, 66 Ladbroke Road, W.11, addressed to “My dear Monty”.
 
In the letter Mackenzie reflects on his wartime experiences, including the Dardanelles and Imbros, refers to his service in the Aegean, and explicitly recalls the difficulties and controversies surrounding Greek Memories, noting the long-standing official sensitivities and his decision to place related papers with the Imperial War Museum rather than permit publication during his lifetime. The letter also touches on his literary career, friendships, and later life, providing a retrospective, first-hand commentary on the political repercussions of the volume that had been suppressed and effectively banned on publication.
 
An unusually complete set, combining the signed first edition of the first volume of Mackenzie’s major First World War memoir sequence, complete with the remaining three volumes including the banned third book 'Greek Memories'. Along with a late autobiographical document in which he revisits, in his own words, the military and political background that made Greek Memories one of the most contentious British war books of the inter-war period.