Description:

MAO ZEDONG
(1893 - 1976) Chinese statesman, commonly known as 'Chairman Mao, a communist revolutionary who became the founding father of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao helped to found the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and in 1949 Mao's forces defeated the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-Shek. On October 1, 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China. An early and excessively rare signed book, Mao's 'On Protracted Warfare' ('Lun chi jiu zhan') (Yan'an: Jiefang chubanashe),1938. Edited by the 'Kangri zhanzheng yanjiuhui' ('Anti-Japanese War Research Committee'). 97pp. 8vo. with four folding charts and tables for anti-Japanese strategies and defense teams, and index. Mostly unopened and untrimmed; staple binding with original printed paper wrappers. The front cover bears a printed inscription as well as Mao's bold hand-signed ink signature at left. This was the first appearance in book form of Mao's definitive statement of the principles of guerrilla warfare. On Protracted War is a work comprising a series of speeches by Mao given from May 26 to June 3, 1938, at the Yenan Association for the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In it, he calls for a protracted people's war as a means for small revolutionary groups to fight the power of the state, and it was first published in the periodical Jiefang ('Liberation'), issue 43-44 this same year. This rare autograph by Chairman Mao dates from the time of its 1938 printing to the 1940s and is thus especially rare. It is accompanied by a typed letter from JACK WODDIS (1914-1988), a prolific pro-communist writer and supporter and International Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1p. 8vo., London, Mar. 14, 1950, to Gordon Beeson in Surrey acknowledging a donation he had made: '...Many thanks for the seven guineas. I enclose a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's 'Protracted War' with his signature written on the side of the cover. I am sure that this signed book will be a rare acquisition on your part, and I can assure you that the seven guineas will be put to good use in promoting Anglo-Chinese friendship...' The letter has been folded several times and it is quite worn, but with no loss of text. Als present is a stamped tan envelope, presumably the envelope in which the book was sent, with typed label and ink inscription in an unknown hand (probably that of Beeson) indicating: 'This is a first edition of 'Protracted War' by Mao Ts Sung [sic] and autographed by Mao himself on the back page. Should be very valuable some day'. Mao's book, an extraordinary rarity, is in excellent condition.

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December 6, 2024 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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$100 $499 $20
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$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $999,999 $10,000
$1,000,000 $1,999,999 $50,000
$2,000,000 + $100,000