SIGNED BY PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER

THATCHER, Margaret. The Downing Street Years. (London): HarperCollins, (1993). Thick octavo, original blue paper boards, original dust jacket. $950.

First trade edition, first printing, of Thatcher's memoir of her historic years as Prime Minister, signed by her on the publisher's tipped-in leaf.

The United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister, Thatcher, who studied chemistry at Oxford before becoming a barrister and entering politics, was nicknamed the "Iron Lady" for her tough stance on trade unions, privatization of government-owned companies, the Soviet Union and the Irish Republication Army, which attempted to assassinate her in 1984. Ousted from the premiership in 1990, she remained in the House of Commons for another two years. In 1992 she was granted a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, making her a member of the House of Lords. With numerous photographic illustrations. Issued the same year as a signed limited edition of only 100 copies.

A fine copy.