Pedlar of Death: The Life of Sir Basil Zaharoff 1965 Donald McCormick ~ Biography ~ Arms Dealer ~ Merchant of Death ~ Europe History

Title: Pedlar of Death: The Life of Sir Basil Zaharoff

Author: Donald McCormick

Description: First Edition. Boards in black cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Interior is clean and unmarked. Dust jacket price clipped; in an archival mylar sleeve. Index. 17 illustrations (mostly photographs) on plates, including frontispiece. x, 255 pages.

Biography of Sir Basil Zaharoff (1849-1936), the politically influential Greek arms dealer and financier, described as both a ''merchant of death'' and a ''mystery man of Europe''. He was one of Europe's wealthiest and most influential figures, an eminence grise who remained relatively unknown to the public for his working behind the scenes. He was also, for a time, the owner the Monte Carlo Casino and Monaco's principal source of revenue.

The author, Donald McCormick (1911-1998) was a British journalist and popular historian who had worked with Naval Intelligence during the Second World War. At one point, after the war, he worked with Ian Fleming at the foreign desk of the The Sunday Times. As a side note, Fleming's Bond-series character Ernst Stavro Blofeld (''Dr. Evil'' comically), the head of SPECTRE, was modeled on Zaharoff.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Publisher: Macdonald
Place: London
Year: 1965

Keywords: biography, history, arms merchants, Europe, politics, war, merchant of death, spies,