NORWICH, John Julius (1919-2018). A Christmas Cracker, [Shrewsbury], 1991-2018, 26 numbers (lacking 1994 & 2013), 8vo, wrappers, all but the last INSCRIBED, "Charles and Jane [Williams], With Christmas love, John." Please see the note on provenance. (26)

NORWICH, John Julius (1919-2018).  A Christmas Cracker being a commonplace selection. [Shrewsbury or no place: Livesey Limited or no publisher], 1991-93, 1995-2012, 2014-2018 (i.e. lacking the numbers for 1994 and 2013 in the sequence). 26 numbers, 8vo (204 x 131mm). Original decorated vari-coloured wrappers. With the exception of the last, each number is INSCRIBED BY JOHN JULIUS NORWICH on the upper wrapper, "Charles and Jane [Williams], With Christmas love, John." John Julius Norwich put together his first delightfully eclectic Christmas Cracker in 1969; the last, for 2018 - and the only one not inscribed by him in this collection - was proof-read from his hospital bed before his death on 1 June 2018. Provenance: The Late Lady Williams of Elvel (1929-2023). Lady Jane Williams (née Portal) was Churchill's personal secretary from 1949 to 1955, a niece of the deputy Prime Minister "Rab" Butler and mother to the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (b.1956). (26)