The War Speeches 1940-1945.
London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1946. First edition, only printing. Paperback. This is the first collected edition of Churchill's war speeches, published only as a paperback in 1946. Between 1941 and 1946, Churchill's war speeches were published in seven individual volumes. In 1952 they were collected and republished in three volumes. Both of these editions are well-known. Far less known is this first collected edition published in July 1946, just one year after Churchill’s Conservative Party lost the General Election and Churchill lost his wartime premiership to Clement Attlee. The book measures 8.5 x 5.5 inches (21.6 x 14 cm), bound in pale blue paper wraps with turn-in flaps like a dust jacket, and with contents printed on cheap pulp paper. With only one softcover printing, this has proven a scarce and fragile edition.
Given the paperback binding and pulp paper contents, truly fine copies are a chimera. This copy is better than most, approaching very good condition. The wraps being is square, complete, and bright, with the pale blue hue uniform on both the front cover and spine, the white rear cover still bright with only light soiling. We note wear along the joints and front flap fold, small instances of yellowing, as if from old cellotape reinforcement, at the upper and lower covers adjacent to the spine (though not on the spine itself), and light overall soiling. The lower front flap is neatly price-clipped. The contents are quite respectably clean for the edition; the pulp paper contents are inevitably toned, but we find no previous ownership marks and light spotting appears substantially confined to the text block edges. The book is housed in a dark red cloth Solander case, the title and author gilt-stamped on a black Morocco goatskin spine label, the interior lined with white paper. Condition of the Solander case is fine.
During his long public life, Winston Churchill played many roles worthy of note - Member of Parliament for more than half a century, soldier and war correspondent, author of scores of books, ardent social reformer, combative cold warrior, Nobel Prize winner, painter. But Churchill's preeminence as a historical figure owes most to his indispensable leadership during the Second World War, when his soaring and defiant oratory sustained his countrymen and inspired the free world. Of Churchill, Edward R. Murrow said: "He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." When Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, it was partly “…for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.”
Reference: Cohen A224, Woods/ICS A113, Langworth p.241. Item #008195
Price: $750.00