Shall We Commit Suicide?
New York: Eilert Printing Company, Inc., 1924. First edition. Pamphlet. This scarce, original 1924 pamphlet contains a prescient and grim discussion of the potential horrors of future warfare and advocacy for the League of Nations for international standards of "sanity and hope". Among the issues discussed by Churchill is the prospect of biological warfare: "A study of Disease - of Pestilences methodically prepared and deliberately launched upon man and beast - is certainly being pursued in the laboratories of more than one great country. Blight to destroy crops, Anthrax to slay horses and cattle, Plague to poison not armies but whole districts - such are the lines along which military science is remorselessly advancing."
The pamphlet is introduced with an exhortation on the front cover by Charles W. Eliot, Harvard University's longest serving president and a noted supporter of progressive movement causes: "This Statement of the English Winston Churchill, in view of the actual and prospective destructive agencies available in war, should be placed forthwith in every American household." This pamphlet measures 8 x 3.5 inches (20.3 x 8.9 cm) and is 11 pages in length, wire-stitched with paper wraps.
This copy is good plus. The wraps covers are firmly intact, both original binding staples uncorroded. The chief defect is toning to the top inch (2.5 cm) of the wraps with shallow chipping along the top edge of the covers, mostly confined to the corners. It seems likely that this pamphlet was long shelved between books an inch lower in height. The rest of the pamphlet is crisp, bright, and clean, with minimal toning, no spotting, and no previous ownership marks. The pamphlet resides in a removable, clear, archival sleeve.
Reference: Cohen A74.1, Woods A33. Item #006421
Price: $500.00