Waugh (Evelyn) Scott-King's Modern Europe, first edition, signed inscription from the author to front endpaper, title in red and black, frontispiece, endpapers a little browned, bookplate of Hugh Trevor-Roper to pastedown, dust-jacket, spine slightly browned and with minor creasing to foot, lower panel and flaps a little spotted, a near-fine copy overall, preserved in custom slip-case, 8vo, 1947.

*** A superb copy of this title with an interesting association.

Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003), historian and occasional bête noire of Waugh. Waugh seems to have developed a dim view of Trevor-Roper quite quickly, referring to him variously as "that blackguard" and "the demon don". Their most famous public spat was in the pages of the New Statesman in 1954 over relatively obscure points concerning the history of the Roman Catholic church in England. Although Waugh does not name the recipient of the inscription, it is nevertheless interesting to speculate as to whether Waugh presented a copy of this work to a figure for whom he held a particular dislike. See also lot 59.