Churchill and Roosevelt, The Complete Correspondence
Norwalk, Connecticut: Easton Press, 1995. Full leather. This is a handsome set of the beautiful, leather bound edition of the three volumes of correspondence between Winston S. Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt spanning 1933, the year FDR was inaugurated, to 1945, the year FDR died. Condition is fine. The bindings are exceptional - square, clean, bright and tight with no appreciable wear, flaws, or blemishes. The contents are pristine. The gilt edges show only trivial scuffing to the fore and bottom edges. Laid into the first volume are two original Easton Press promotional brochures for the set.
Few relationships between world leaders proved as important and world-defining as the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. On 11 September 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had already been President of the United States for six and a half years. By contrast, Winston S. Churchill had only been reappointed as Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty a week prior, after the outbreak of the Second World War. While Roosevelt had been leading his own nation, Churchill had spent most of the 1930s out of power and out of favor, warning against the growing Nazi threat and often at odds with both his Party leadership and prevailing public sentiment.
But on 11 September, Roosevelt initiated what would become a remarkable relationship and correspondence. FDR wrote, “My dear Churchill, It is because you and I occupied similar positions in the [First] World War that I want you to know how glad I am that you are back again in the Admiralty… I shall at all times welcome it if you will keep me in touch personally with anything you want me to know about.” (ed. Kimball, Complete Correspondence Vol.I, p.24) Churchill responded to FDR (who was a former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy) with the amusingly transparent code name “Naval Person”. This Churchill changed to “Former Naval Person” when he became prime minister in May 1940. Ultimately, the correspondence between Roosevelt and Churchill nurtured and sustained a vital alliance, strengthened it with comradeship, and critically impacted the outcome of the greatest conflict in human history.
This weighty, three-volume set first issued in 1984 publishes their complete correspondence from October 1933 to April 1945, the month FDR died. The correspondence is edited with commentary by Warren F. Kimball. The set was first issued by Princeton University Press in 1984. In 1995, Easton Press issued this leather-bound edition. Easton Press publications are sought for their handsome shelf presence. This set features full brown leather bindings, hubbed spines, black title and author spine panels, gilt lettering and decoration, all edges gilt, satin ribbon page markers, acid neutral paper, sewn pages, and moire endsheets.
Reference: Cohen A287.4. Item #007475
Price: $450.00