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CHURCHILL, Winston S.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
Publisher: Cassell and Company Ltd., London, 1956–8
Stock code: 71578
Price: £500 Currency Conversion
First editions, first impressions. Churchill's history of the two branches of the English-speaking nations – the British Empire and the United States – was begun during his "Wilderness Years" in the early 1930s, but not completed until after his retirement from the political stage in the late 1950s. The events of the Second World War, the major interruption in the writing process, had reconfirmed his belief in the "Special Relationship", "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." Consequently he gave considerable attention to the key events of American history, around a quarter of the third volume, "The Age of Revolution", is dedicated to the American War of Independence, and a full third of the final volume, "The Great Democracies" contains a detailed study of the American Civil War. Publisher's prospectus for volume I, together with original receipt from Blackwell's loosely inserted into the relevant volume, as also a clipping of Geoffrey Barraclough's review of volume III for the Manchester Guardian.
4 volumes, octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spines gilt, red top stain. With the dust jackets. All volumes illustrated with maps and genealogical tables. Top-stain variably faded, jackets slightly tanned at the spines, volume I with a short closer tear at the head of the upper panel, volume III a little bumped at the tail of the spine, internally clean and sound, a very good set.
