first edition
1954 · London
by Churchill, Winston S.
London: Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1954. First UK edition. Fine. Six vols, octavo (208 x 135mm). Attractively bound in recent full burgundy morocco, lettering and decoration to spines gilt, rule to boards gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Illustrated with maps and diagrams. Some occasional light spotting, an excellent set. First UK editions, first impressions, of Churchill’s masterpiece, the single most important historical account of the Second World War and a major factor in Churchill being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. Churchill was contractually obliged to allow the US editions to be published first, but he treated the UK editions as definitive and reserved his final proof corrections for them.
Churchill’s work is, unsurprisingly, mostly focused on the British perspective of the conflict – and the book is as much memoir as it is history. Churchill was already a well regarded and popular writer when he ascended to the Prime Ministership in 1940, and he made no secret of his intention to one day write a history of the conflict which was only then beginning: “I will leave judgments on this matter [World War II] to history, but I will be one of the historians,” he wrote. Interestingly enough, Churchill was permitted by Clement Atlee and the Labour government – which had come to office in 1945 – to be allowed access to many of the government archives, in order to help furnish his narrative. (Though he was not allowed to reveal any official government secrets.) The book was a bestseller, and would make Churchill – for the first time in his life – a truly wealthy man. It is also the work that supposedly secured him the Nobel Prize for Literature. “So with Triumph and Tragedy end the Memoirs of the Second World War by Winston S. Churchill, a gigantic contribution to history by a historical giant…” (Contemporary New York Times review).
Cohen A240.4; Woods A123(b). Fine. (Inventory #: 6888)
Churchill’s work is, unsurprisingly, mostly focused on the British perspective of the conflict – and the book is as much memoir as it is history. Churchill was already a well regarded and popular writer when he ascended to the Prime Ministership in 1940, and he made no secret of his intention to one day write a history of the conflict which was only then beginning: “I will leave judgments on this matter [World War II] to history, but I will be one of the historians,” he wrote. Interestingly enough, Churchill was permitted by Clement Atlee and the Labour government – which had come to office in 1945 – to be allowed access to many of the government archives, in order to help furnish his narrative. (Though he was not allowed to reveal any official government secrets.) The book was a bestseller, and would make Churchill – for the first time in his life – a truly wealthy man. It is also the work that supposedly secured him the Nobel Prize for Literature. “So with Triumph and Tragedy end the Memoirs of the Second World War by Winston S. Churchill, a gigantic contribution to history by a historical giant…” (Contemporary New York Times review).
Cohen A240.4; Woods A123(b). Fine. (Inventory #: 6888)
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