CHURCHILL’S LAST MAJOR HISTORICAL WORK

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume I: The Birth of Britain [– Volume II: The New World; – Volume III: The Age of Revolution; – Volume IV: The Great Democracies].

London, Cassel & Company Ltd, [1956; – 1956; – 1957; – 1958].

Four vols, 8vo, pp. I: [2 (blank)], xxi, [1 (blank)], 416, II: [2 (blank)], xi, [1 (blank)], 344, [2 (blank)], III: [2 (blank)], xi, [1 (blank)], 332, [6 (blank)], IV: [2 (blank)], xi, [1 (blank)], 322; with half-titles, full-page maps printed in-text; spotting to margins and to first and final leaves of each volume; publisher’s red cloth, spines lettered in gilt, top-edges stained red, with printed dust-jackets; a few minor marks to bindings, dust-jackets worn with a few spots and chips along edges, partial tear to one crease of vol. I dustjacket, but a good set; ink ownership inscription dated 1957 to front free endpaper vol. III.

£200

Approximately:
US $259€238

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A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume I: The Birth of Britain [– Volume II: The New World; – Volume III: The Age of Revolution; – Volume IV: The Great Democracies].

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First editions, with dust-jackets, of Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples, his last major historical work.

A History had been commissioned by Cassell in 1932 and Churchill, by then a highly paid and bestselling author, was given an advance of £20,000. ‘Setting himself a target of 1000 words a day, he began work on the book on 1 August 1938. By the outbreak of war in September 1939 … there were 530,000 words in proof and the book was almost finished’ (ODNB), but his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty (the position he had held in the First World War) on 3 September 1939 forced the suspension of publication. Retirement from high office after the War allowed Churchill to devote his energies to projects which had been placed to one side, and he oversaw the funding and foundation of Churchill College Cambridge and returned to A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

Spanning the period from the Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC to the beginning of the twentieth century, Churchill felt that his work had not become less relevant in the years between the original commission and its publication: ‘if there was a need for it before, that has certainly not passed away. For the second time in the present century the British Empire and the United States have stood together facing the perils of war on the largest scale known among men, and since the cannons ceased to fire and the bombs to burst we have become more conscious of our common duty to the human race. Language, law, and the processes by which we have come into being, already afforded a unique foundation for drawing together and portraying a concerted task. I thought when I began that such a unity might well notably influence the destiny of the world. Certainly I do not feel that the need for this has diminished in any way in the twenty years that have passed’ (vol. I, preface).

Cohen A267.1(I).a, A267.1(II).a, A267.1(III).a, and A267.1(IV); Langworth, pp. 315-317; Woods A138(a).

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