THE WORLD CRISIS
-First American Edition Set in Dust Jackets with Original Slipcase-
1923-1931
First American Edition Set
Charles Scribners Sons [New York]
Biblio: (Cohen A69.1) (Woods A31aa)
8vo (5 volumes in 6 books. 2500+ pages, with folding maps and plans.)
Hardcover in Dust Jacket [Dark reddish-brown cloth]
Item Number: 213328
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Collector's Guide
The World Crisis is Churchill’s highly subjective history of the First World War. Comprising five volumes (in six books) written over eight years, the initial titles were first published in the U.S. (by a matter of days), making the American edition the true first edition. Volume I (1911-1914) and Volume II (1915) were published in 1923. Volume III (1916-1918 ) was published in two parts in 1927 (hence the five/in six volumes ultimate format). Volume IV (The Aftermath 1918-1928) was published in 1929; and Volume V (The Unknown War/The Eastern Front) in 1931. A one-volume abridgment by the author was soon issued. Most subsequent re-issues have been incomplete, abridged, or otherwise condensed versions of the original text.
Description
This is an exceptional First American edition set of First Printings in the exceedingly rare dust jackets, all unprice-clipped.
VOLUME I (Book 1) dust jacket is from a slightly later edition, with an advertisement on the rear face for THE AFTERMATH (which came out in 1929). The jacket is in exceptional condition, vivid and bright, with very light-edge-chipping and a fractional 1-inch square loss at the spine head. The book is square and tight and the cloth is fresh. Though the spine and gilt lettering have dulled a bit, it is much less than usual for this volume. The contents are fine and unfoxed.
VOLUME II (Book 2) dust jacket is uniquely bright and fresh, virtually mint, save for an inch-plus scrape on the rear face. The book is the second binding variant of the First Printing, per Cohen (A69.1[II].b).] It is in astonishing condition, virtually mint.
VOLUME III: Parts 1 & 2 (Books 3 and 4) are preserved in the rarely-seen original publisher’s slipcase, which has some separation along the seams, archival-tape-reinforced, but is perfectly intact. The dust jackets are correct and, again, unusually fresh and bright; only the faintest staining along the spine of Volume I and an infinitesimal chip at the spine head of Volume II. The books are virtually mint, with ornate vintage bookplates on each pastedown, and miniscule, vintage bookshop stickers (Robertson of San Francisco) on the rear pastedowns, else fine.
VOLUME IV: THE AFTERMATH (Book 5) dust jacket is virtually mint, with a clip to the price that is not through-cut; the printed price remains. The book is similarly mint, inside and out, with a tiny vintage bookshop sticker on the lower corner of the front free endpaper.
VOLUME V: THE UNKNOWN WAR (Book 6) dust jacket is exceptionally bright and fresh, save for a fractional chip at the spine head wrapping around to the upper left corner of the front face. The book is virtually mint.
Laid-into VOLUME I is a vintage mailer, dated 1923, from Machin’s Tailored Shirts of Los Angeles, addressed to “Mr. Geo S. Patton, San Gabriel, Cal.” General George S. Patton (Jr.) was born in San Gabriel, California and grew up there. His father was George S. Patton II, so it is more than likely that this volume (if not the entire set) belonged to the father and may well have been read by his son, a voracious student of military history at a young age.