Speech Broadcast by The Prime Minister Mr. Winston Churchill, April 27, 1941
New York: The British Library of Information, 1941. First edition, only printing. Pamphlet. This is the first edition, only printing of Churchill's broadcast speech of 27 April 1941 - Churchill's famous "Westward, Look, the Land is Bright" speech in which he praises the resolve and heroism of the British people. Condition is near fine and impressive thus given the fragility of the format. The pamphlet is crisp and complete, both binding staples intact with only slight surface corrosion. The covers show only light overall age-toning and minor creasing to the lower front corner. The pamphlet is protected within a clear, removable archival sleeve.
Churchill made the broadcast from Chequers, a rousing and reasoned reassurance to the British people delivered during retreat and evacuation from Greece under General Wavell. Churchill spoke of having recently visited "some of our great cities and seaports which had been most heavily bombed" and finding that "where the ordeal of the men, women and children has been most severe ... I found their morale most high and splendid." Typically, even as he spoke of "an exaltation of spirit in the people" Churchill mixed practical information on the war and admonition that "There is only one thing certain about war, that it is full of disappointments and also of mistakes." Churchill spoke of fronts in Greece, Yugoslavia, Libya, and the Atlantic and of increased American commitment and support.
The United States had recently passed the Lend Lease Act and extended its naval security zone several thousand miles into the Atlantic, effectively shielding much of the Atlantic convoy route. Churchill placed recent challenges in context, stating "Nothing that is happening now is comparable in gravity with the dangers through which we passed last year." Churchill famously concluded his remarks with eight lines of verse from a poem by Arthur Hugh Clough that Churchill first heard and learned by heart before the First World War. (Gilbert, Volume VI, p.1022). The moving words provided the title by which this speech came to be known. As a token of esteem, Charles Scribner, Churchill's former American publisher, located the manuscript version of the poem ("Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth") and arranged to have it presented to Churchill in July 1941. (Cohen, Volume I, pages 570-571)
This leaflet is one in a series of Churchill's speeches printed by the British Library of Information in New York. The British Library of Information published thirty-four editions of statements, speeches, and broadcast addresses by Prime Minister Winston Churchill (that number including some variant publications of the same speeches), beginning with his first speech as Prime Minister of 13 May 1940 and ending with the broadcast address of 29 November 1942. These editions were often issued within two or three days of delivery and "reveal the political determination of the British government to bring the inspiration and steadfastness of the Prime Minister and the British nation to an American nation not yet engaged in the war. Indeed, twenty-two of the BLOI speech pamphlets were published before Pearl Harbor." (Cohen, Volume I, p.513, A120)
Reference: Cohen A145, Woods A70. Item #006429
Price: $350.00