THE WORLD CRISIS
-First English Edition Set without Dust Jackets-
1923-1931
First English Edition Set
Thornton Butterworth Ltd. [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A69.2[I-VI.a]) (Woods A31ab)
8vo (5 volumes in 6 books. 2500+ pages, illustrated with folding maps and plans.)
Hardcover without Dust Jackets [Dark blue cloth]
Item Number: 213960
$1,500.00
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 a very good First English edition set of First Printings, without dust jackets. The books are in very good condition externally, beautifully crisp, fresh and bright, with flap-toning internally to the endpapers, else fine.
VOLUME I (Book 1) is the First State of the First Printing, without an Errata slip. The cloth is crisp and fairly fresh, for this fade-prone volume, with tiny hints of fading at the spine head and tail, else fine. The front and rear hinges have been very professionally repaired, almost indetectably, with the original endpapers preserved. There is an ink gift inscription on the front endpaper (“To Lieut. Commander G.H. Chapman,”), dated “13th April 1922.” The contents are otherwise fine.
VOLUME III Part 2 (Book 4) is crisp and bright, with a vintage bookplate on the front free endpaper and the publisher’s original printed customer postcard still laid-in.
VOLUME IV: THE AFTERMATH (Book 5) is the First State of the First Printing without an Errata slip. It is a very handsome copy, crisp and bright, with faint, scattered foxing to the prelims and fore-edges only.
VOLUME V: THE EASTERN FRONT (Book 6) is a lovely copy, with the front and rear hinges again very professionally repaired, and the original endpapers preserved.