Marlborough: His Life and Times, an exceptional, full, four-volume set of British first edition, first printings in dust jackets, housed in solander cases.
London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1933. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is a compellingly clean and bright full set of four British first edition, first printings in first printing dust jackets, among the best we have offered.
The edition
The British first trade edition of Winston Churchill’s monumental biography of his great ancestor, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, is physically impressive. The books measure 9.25 x 6.25 inches and are roughly 2 inches thick. Each is bound in plum cloth with beveled edges and the Marlborough coat of arms gilt on the front cover. Moreover, each volume is profusely illustrated, the contents bound with headbands, and gilt top edges. Unfortunately, the plum cloth binding of Volumes I-III proved highly susceptible to sun fading. (A different, more fade-resistant dye was used in Volume IV.) Without dust jackets, Volumes I-III are nearly always faded and jacketed first editions are scarce.
Particularly scarce are first printing dust jackets for Volumes I & II. Collectors should be wary of price-clipped dust jackets, as later impression Volume I & II dust jackets state either "2nd Impression" or "3rd Impression" on the lower front flap beside the price. No such problem applies to Volumes III & IV, which each had only a single printing.
Condition
This set features near fine or better first printing volumes in very good plus or better first printing dust jackets. The bindings are uncompromisingly clean, bright, tight, and square. Because the jackets are all complete, we find not even tiny instances of sunning corresponding with dust jacket chips. A touch of wrinkling to a few spine ends, a small dent to the bottom edge of the Volume I rear cover, and a gently bruised Volume IV upper front cover corner are the only minor exterior defects noted. The contents are even better, improbably clean. We find no previous ownership marks. Spotting, endemic to the edition, is entirely absent from the final three volumes and in Volume I is quite light, confined to the half title, frontispiece, and title page and, quite faint, to the fore edges of the text block. The gilt top edges of all four volumes remain bright.
All four first printing dust jackets are unclipped, retaining their original front flap prices, and highly complete, with only hints of fractional chipping to a few spine ends and flap fold corners, the trivial loss entirely confined to the maroon edge margins. Moreover, all four jackets are uncommonly bright and clean, with only a barely discernible hint of color shift between the jacket faces and spines. The Volume I dust jacket has a faint vertical crease to the right side of the spine, but more than compensates with excellent overall condition. Shelf presentation of the set is superb. These are not perfect jackets, but with only incidental soiling, edgewear, and toning, they are as close as is reasonably possible, compellingly clean, bright, and complete. All four jackets are protected beneath clear, removable, archival covers.
The set is housed in two burgundy cloth solander cases, two volumes per case, the case interiors lined with marbled paper, the spines printed in gilt. The cases are in near fine condition, only incidentally scuffed and bumped, their chief defect that, amusingly, the binder apparently (and ironically) stamped "HARROP" at the foot of each spine instead of the actual publisher's name, "Harrap".
Winston and John
Winston Churchill's biography of John Churchill was initially conceived a full 40 years before publication of the final volume. Marlborough ultimately took 10 years of research and writing and is the most substantial published work of Churchill's 1930s "wilderness years". This decade saw Churchill pass into his sixties with his own future as uncertain as that of his nation. Churchill may have wondered more than once if the life history he was writing would eclipse his own. Of course, it did not; the final volume was published almost exactly one year before the outbreak of the Second World War and just twenty months before Churchill became wartime prime minister.
T.E. Lawrence “Of Arabia” praised it as “history, solemn and decorative.” James Lewis Garvin, editor of The Observer, wrote “I think it to be… the greatest of all your works.” When Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, it was partly for “mastery of historical and biographical description” displayed in Marlborough.
Reference: Cohen A97.2(I-IV).a, Woods/ICS A40(aa), Langworth p.166. Item #008974
Price: $4,500.00