Rare first edition signed by Chairman Mao set to go under the hammer at Bury St Edmunds auction house Lacy Scott and Knight

A rare 1938 first edition signed by Chairman Mao is set to go under the hammer at a Bury St Edmunds-based auctioneers on Saturday.

Lacy Scott and Knight will auction the first edition of On Protracted War by Mao Zedong/Tse-tung (Chairman Mao).

Mao’s signature is rare and highly sought-after, with this being an early example from the war-torn period before the foundation of the People’s Republic of China.

The auction details said: “The volume was bought by the vendor’s left-wing grandfather from the British Communist Party in 1950 and remained undiscovered in a drawer until very recently, when the vendor’s own father died.”

Chairman Mao was the Communist revolutionary founder of the People’s Republic of China, which he led as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1949 until his death in 1976.

Lacy Scott and Knight said: “This rare original Chinese publication of Mao’s lectures regarding the war with Japan, which were undertaken in May and June 1938 at the Yenan Association for the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japan, bears his signature to the front cover and comprises 98 numbered pages followed by errata page, with fold-out tables for Anti-Japanese strategies and defence teams. It was clearly hurriedly published and the pages remain uncut at the bottom.”

The book is sold with a signed letter from Jack Woddis, author and secretary of the British Communist Party’s international department, dated 1950.

It said: “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 the seven guineas will be put to good use in promoting Anglo-Chinese friendship.”

Examples of Mao’s signature are rare, with only a handful of examples going to auction in the last decade.

The lot is available to view today until 7pm and tomorrow from 10am-7pm, ahead of Saturday’s fine arts and antiques auction, from 10am.

Other lots at this weekend’s auctions include a 1976 Anthony Zemaitis acoustic guitar commissioned by musician Steve Harley; a pair of 1960s rocket floor lamps; a Beatles postcard signed on the reverse by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon; and a gents Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT Master stainless steel automatic wristwatch.

The auction house’s music, film and sport memorabilia and its 20th century art and design auctions both start tomorrow at 11am.