TLS signed “Winston S. Churchill,” 8 x 10, Chartwell letterhead, May 9, 1933. Letter to his proofreader and editor C. C. Wood relating to the publication of the monumental biography Marlborough: His Life and Times. In full: "What do you advise about the old style and new style printing? Our plan is to print in old style events clearly English in their preponderance, and in new style those that are clearly Continental. When a date affects both England and the Continent we print both styles i.e. 4-14, 8-19. How should this be printed? Should it be 4 with a diagonal line, or 4 on top of the 14 like a fraction, or 4 with 14 in brackets as you have done in certain dual dates. The complication of the year also sometimes comes in. It is very tiresome to the reader and should be minimized. Pray state what typography you advise." Churchill sketches the three styles in the left margin as examples. In fine condition, with some light soiling to the right edge._x000D__x000D_Churchill was commissioned to write a biography of his ancestor, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in 1929. He began writing it in earnest in 1932, and ultimately published four volumes between 1933 and 1938. He began the work in an effort to refute earlier criticisms of Marlborough by the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay. This exquisite letter reveals Churchill’s meticulousness and attention to detail as a writer, which would ultimately lead to his receipt of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for ‘his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.’