A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
-Presentation First English Edition Set from Winston Churchill-
First English Edition Set
Cassell and Co. [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A267.1[I-IV].a) (Woods A138a)
8vo (440 pages, 350 pages, 352 pages & 346 pages. Illustrated with maps and tables.)
Hardcover in Dust Jackets [Red cloth]
Item Number: 214716
$3,500.00
Collector's Guide
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples was Winston Churchill’s last great work; a sweeping, four-volume history of England, her colonies, and the language that Churchill so venerated and ennobled in his own writings. Published nearly twenty years after Churchill composed his first draft in the late-1930s, the books were released after the war simultaneously in Britain, the U.S., and Canada over a period of three years. The original English edition was handsomely printed, the American and Canadian editions less so. Subsequent re-issues and abridgments abound.
Description
This very good First English edition set, in dust jackets, contains two separate presentation notes in ink from Winston Churchill tipped-in on the endpapers of Volumes I and II.
The one in Volume I is on blank notepaper. It reads: “With all good wishes, Winston S. Churchill, April 23, 1956.”
The one in Volume II is on Hyde Park Gate headed-notepaper. It reads: “With all good wishes, Winston S. Churchill.” April 23 was the publication date for this first volume. Presentation notes were, no doubt, printed for the occasion by Churchill’s office.
The dust jackets have all darkened with age and are edge-worn at the spine heads and tails, but remain eminently presentable. All are unclipped, save for Volume II, which is price-clipped. The books are tightly bound, with very light, very scattered foxing limited to the prelims and fore-edges of Volumes I and II. The red topstains of all volumes are quite faded. The contents are otherwise fine.