THE SECOND WORLD WAR
-First American Edition Set in Dust Jackets-
1948-1953
First American Edition Set
Houghton Mifflin Company [Boston]
Biblio: (Cohen A240.3[I-VI]) (Woods A123aa)
8vo (Maps, diagrams and tables throughout.)
Hardcover without Dust Jacket [Red cloth]
Item Number: 213566
$1,500.00
Collector's Guide
The Second World War, also known as Winston Churchill’s War Memoirs, won Churchill the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. Published in six volumes that appeared over six years, the books each came out first in the U.S. under the following titles: THE GATHERING STORM (Volume I/1948), THEIR FINEST HOUR (Volume II/1949), THE GRAND ALLIANCE (Volume III/1950), THE HINGE OF FATE (Volume IV/1950), CLOSING THE RING (Volume V/1951) and TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY (Volume VI/1953).
The ensuing English editions, issued within months of the American, contained numerous corrections and even a few additional maps. The English edition is therefore considered more definitive, though today the American edition may be rarer. The set was simultaneously published by the Book-of-the-Month-Club in America, printed on the same presses as the first editions, and thus can easily be confused with them. An excellent one-volume abridgment was published in 1959; largely the work of Churchill’s research assistant, Denis Kelly, though Churchill did contribute an interesting epilogue covering the years 1945-1957.
Description
This is a very good set of true First American editions, in correct, unclipped dust jackets that exhibit varying degrees of wear. The books are all virtually mint, with strong, golden topstains, the contents clean, crisp and unfoxed.
Volume 1 jacket is very modestly edge-chipped with fractional losses at the spine head and tail and on the upper right corner.
Volume 2 jacket is significantly faded along the fade-prone spine with edge wear and a few short closed tears.
Volume 3 jacket is a bit rubbed along the spine and edge-chipped throughout.
Volume 4 is unfaded along the spine but edge-chipped at the head and tail, with a one-inch rub across the lower portion of the spine, just below Churchill’s name. There is also a triangular loss at the upper edge of the front face.
Volume 5 jacket is severely faded at the fade-prone spine with almost complete fading to all spine type that is not printed black. The front and rear faces are bright, however edge-chipped.
Volume 6 jacket is only nominally faded at the spine, with light edge-chipping and fractional losses at the spine head and rear lower corner. Volume 6 jacket is only nominally faded at the spine, with light edge-chipping and fractional losses at the spine head and rear lower corner. There is the faintest flap shadow to the front free endpaper, else fine.