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CHURCHILL, Winston S.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
Publisher: Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1956–58
Stock code: 35020
Price: £12,500 Currency Conversion
First American editions, inscribed by the author, Vol. 1 signed and dated, Vol. 4 inscribed "Emery from Winston S. Churchill, April 1958", the other volumes unsigned. It was Emery Reves who had been instrumental in promoting Churchill's international profile by the world-wide syndication of many of his prophetic articles during the late 'thirties. Their association blossomed again after the War when Reves negotiated the sale of the US rights for The Second World War, and purchased the international rights himself, selling serialization to twenty-seven newspapers across the globe and securing book rights in eleven European countries. Churchill said of this feat, "I am sure that no one could have done it except Reves who buzzed around the world for nearly a year making contracts." They subsequently worked closely together on the book itself, Reves having what Martin Gilbert has described as "considerable editorial input". Following his retirement from public life in 1955 Churchill began work on English-Speaking Peoples, his final literary work, based on an idea first conceived in 1930 but laid aside for the duration of the War and for the composition of his memoirs of the conflict. His thesis being the importance of `the two branches of the English-Speaking World, the British Empire and the United States, for future international security, the events of the Second World War 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." Again Reves' influence was key in the development of the project which Churchill completed at La Pausa, Reves' villa in the South of France, ""Reves has given me back the amended text which I proposed of the Preface," Churchill wrote, "He has had lengthy telephonings with French, German, Italian and Scandinavian publishers, showing what they want for their editions." Reves also negotiated Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Hebrew editions." [Gilbert Winston Churchill and Emery Reves p.19] Highly important association copies. Churchill and Reves's symbiosis greatly profited both men, but also did much to forward the cause that passionately engaged them both, the continued spread of democratic ideals in a post-totalitarian world.
4 volumes, octavo. Original black cloth-backed linen boards, spines lettered gilt on red panels, facsimile signature in gilt on front covers, in the printed dust jackets. An excellent set.
