The War Speeches, a full set of seven British first editions - Into Battle, The Unrelenting Struggle, The End of the Beginning, Onwards to Victory, The Dawn of Liberation, Victory, and Secret Session Speeches

Winston S. Churchill

Edité par Cassell and Company Ltd. 1941-1946, London, 1941

A propos de cet article

Here is a full jacketed set of British first edition, first printings of Churchill's seven war speeches volumes. Few books are as emblematic of Churchill s literary and leadership gifts as his war speeches volumes. Between 1941 and 1946, Churchill's war speeches were published in seven individual volumes. The British first editions are visually striking, but were printed on cheap wartime paper, bound in coarse cloth, and wrapped in bright, fragile dust jackets. They proved highly susceptible to spotting, soiling, and fading, so the passage of time has been hard on most surviving first editions. This full first edition, first printing set features very good plus or better volumes in very good or better dust jackets. Assembling full sets in such condition has become challenging. The blue cloth bindings remain square, clean, and tight, with unfaded color, bright spine gilt, sharp corners, and only light shelf wear to extremities. The contents all remain atypically bright, with minor spotting almost entirely confined to prelims and page edges. Previous ownership marks are as follows: a contemporary, 1941, gift inscription on the upper right front pastedown of Into Battle, and the same inked name on front free endpaper rectos of The Dawn of Liberation, Onwards to Victory, and The End of the Beginning. The lower rear pastedown of Secret Session Speeches features the ink stamp of "Lightbrowe Booksellers, Southsea."All seven first printing dust jackets are unclipped, retaining their original front flap prices. None of the dust jackets shows more than minor loss to extremities. All seven show various amounts wear and blemishes, but the first six nonetheless retain bright spine color. The white Secret Session Speeches dust jacket shows some of the usual spotting, heaviest to the front face, as well as spine toning. Each dust jacket is newly fitted with a clear, removable, archival cover. During his long public life, Winston Churchill played many roles worthy of note - Member of Parliament for more than half a century, soldier and war correspondent, author of scores of books, ardent social reformer, combative cold warrior, Nobel Prize winner, painter. But Churchill's preeminence as a historical figure owes most to his indispensable leadership during the Second World War, when his soaring and defiant oratory sustained his countrymen and inspired the free world. Of Churchill, Edward R. Murrow said: "He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." When Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, it was partly "…for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values." Reference: Cohen A142.1.b, A172.1.b, A183.1.a, A194.1.a, A214.1.a, A223.1.b, A227.2.a; Woods/ICS A66(a.1), A89(a.1), A94(a.1), A101(a.1), A107(a.1), A112(ab), A114(b); Langworth pages 204, 213, 218, 223, 228, 234, 250.

N° de réf. du vendeur 008167

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The War Speeches, a full set of seven British first editions - Into Battle, The Unrelenting Struggle, The End of the Beginning, Onwards to Victory, The Dawn of Liberation, Victory, and Secret Session Speeches
• Éditeur: Cassell and Company Ltd. 1941-1946, London
• Date de parution: 1941
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: First edition, first printings.
• État de la jaquette: Jaquette
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • WSC First Editions