The World Crisis A full, six-volume set of first edition, first printings, in first printing dust jackets, including the extravagantly rare 1911-1914 jacket and the original publisher-issued slipcase for the 1916-1918 volumes, and inscribed by Churchill in America in the year of publication in an immaculate copy of the fifth and penultimate volume

Winston S. Churchill

Edité par Charles Scribner's Sons 1923 - 1931, New York, 1923

A propos de cet article

This is a collector s chimera a full, first edition, first printing, jacketed set of Winston Churchill s history of the First World War with Churchill s contemporary inscription. This is unequivocally the best full set in first printing dust jackets of which we are aware, with an extravagantly rare 1911-1914first printing dust jacket, a 1915 first printing dust jacket, and 1916-1918volumes in the publisher s slipcase, an improbably bright and complete Aftermath jacket, and a virtually as-new Unknown War dust jacket. And The Aftermath, is not only the best example we have ever seen, but is also inscribed in America during the year of publication. A quarter of a century before the Second World War endowed him with lasting fame, Churchill played a uniquely critical, controversial, and varied role in the "War to end all wars". Then, being Churchill, he wrote about it. The World Crisis was originally published in six volumes between 1923 and 1931, the first four volumes spanning the war years 1911-1918 and the final two volumes covering the postwar years 1918-1928 (The Aftermath) and the Eastern theatre (The Eastern Front). This U.S. edition preceded its British counterpart, rendering it the true first edition. Completeness and condition alone render this set singular. Crowning the set is Churchill s five-line inked inscription on the half title of the immaculately preserved fifth and penultimate volume: "Inscribed by | Winston S. Churchill | for | E. C. Kizenberger | Oct. 4.1929".The inscribed first edition of The Aftermath came from the estate of Edward C. Kizenberger, a publishing executive who worked for Scribner s and Harper. Kizenberger s collection held a number of late 1920s and 1930s Scribner s first editions inscribed to him by prominent figures and authors, among them Ernest Hemingway, Charles Lindbergh, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Kermit Roosevelt. The book was inscribed by Churchill for Kizenberger in Chicago. From 7 September to 30 October 1929, Churchill toured the United States with his son Randolph, his brother Jack, and his nephew Johnny, arriving in Puget Sound after touring Canada. First published in March 1929, with second and third U.S. printings following in May and October, The Aftermath was Churchill s most recent U.S. first edition, making promoting and signing the book a natural part of his tour. Heading east via rail after three weeks in California, Churchill arrived in Chicago on the morning of 2 October, leaving on 5 October. On Friday, 4 October 1929, the day he inscribed this book, Churchill spoke to the influential Commercial Club of Chicago. Apropos of the subject and title of The Aftermath, Churchill s talk stressed "the need for a final naval agreement between Britain and the United States."While we have handled several U.S. first editions of The Aftermath inscribed by Churchill during his 1929 tour, we have never encountered a jacketed copy in such superlative condition. The binding is immaculately clean, bright, tight, and sharp cornered with vivid gilt and just the slightest shelf wear to the bottom edges. The contents are mildly age-toned, but otherwise pristine, with no soiling, spotting, or previous ownership marks. The Aftermath jacket is simply magnificent, spectacularly bright and entirely complete, the original "$5.00" front flap price intact. The sole defect is a closed tear at the upper rear joint that disappears beneath the dust jacket protector.This balance of the set is equally impressive, both in its constituent volumes and as a whole. Only three surviving first issue dust jackets for the 1911-1914 volume are known making these jackets among the scarcest in the Churchill canon. Mere existence eclipses condition; none of these three known examples is complete, each suffering loss and wear. Nonetheless, this is definitively the best of the three. This 1911-1914 dust jacket is unclipped with the original $6.50 price intact, more complete than the other two known examples, and s.

N° de réf. du vendeur 008791

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The World Crisis A full, six-volume set of first edition, first printings, in first printing dust jackets, including the extravagantly rare 1911-1914 jacket and the original publisher-issued slipcase for the 1916-1918 volumes, and inscribed by Churchill in America in the year of publication in an immaculate copy of the fifth and penultimate volume
• Éditeur: Charles Scribner's Sons 1923 - 1931, New York
• Date de parution: 1923
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: First edition, first printing.
• État de la jaquette: Jaquette
• Signé: Signé par l'auteur
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • WSC First Editions
  • WSC Signed & Inscribed