Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: This is Volume II of the "Limited Presentation Edition" of 1939. During the four years covered by Volume II (1702-1705), Marlborough led England as Captain-General. The volume is a substantial 651 pages with 31 illustrations, 76 maps and plans, and 3 document facsimiles. Winston Churchill's monumental biography of his great ancestor, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, was initially published in Britain in four volumes between 1933 and 1938. After the fourth and final volume of Marlborough was published, in December 1939 the publisher, Harrap, issued what it called a "Limited Presentation Edition" with distinctive bindings and dust jackets unique to the edition. The bindings are medium purple cloth with silver spine lettering and the dust jackets printed in black and orange on cream paper. For Volume I, there was a 1939 printing unique to this edition. For Volume II, the publisher used sheets from the first edition, second and final printing. For volumes III & IV, the publisher used sheets from the first edition, only printing. The Limited Presentation Edition bindings proved even more prone to sunning than their first edition counterparts, often toning significantly even beneath the thin dust jackets, which themselves proved quite fragile and equally subject to sunning. This copy of Volume II is very good in a good plus dust jacket. The purple cloth binding is square, tight, and clean, only slightly faded on the spine except for a small strip at the spine head corresponding to a dust jacket loss. The "II" from the dust jacket, which was heavily printed and thus offered more protection from sunning, shows on the binding spine as two darker spots. There are minor bumps to the upper corners. The contents are crisp and bright with modest spotting confined to page edges and endpapers. Differential toning to the endpapers corresponds to the dust jacket flaps. The dust jacket is unclipped with a mildly toned spine, loss at the spine head to a .25 inch depth, minor loss at the lower front corner, and moderate overall soiling. The dust jacket is protected beneath a removable, clear, archival protector. Marlborough was initially conceived a full 40 years before publication of the final volume. Churchill originally considered the idea of the biography in 1898, returning to it in earnest in 1928. Marlborough ultimately took 10 years of research and writing and is the most substantial published work of Churchill's "wilderness years" in the 1930s, which he spent politically isolated, often at odds with both his own party and prevailing public sentiment. This decade saw Churchill pass into his sixties with his own future as uncertain as that of his nation. Churchill may have wondered if the life history he was writing might ultimately eclipse his own. Few would accuse Churchill of objectivity. Nonetheless, as a work of history it drew high praise. Upon reading the proofs, James Lewis Garvin, editor of The Observer, wrote "I think it to be the greatest of all your works Your full brush has never had more mastery over space and colour " Two months after Volume I was published, on 12 December 1933, T.E. Lawrence wrote to Churchill: "I finished it only yesterday. I wish I had not The skeleton of the book is so good. Its parts balance and the main stream flows Marlborough has the big scene-painting, the informed pictures of men, the sober comment on political method, the humour, irony and understanding It is history, solemn and decorative." When Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, it was partly for "mastery of historical and biographical description" on the strength of Marlborough, which was specifically cited and quoted by the Swedish Academy. Reference: A97.5, Woods/ICS A40(ad), Langworth p.172
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 4 volume set. Bound in plum colored cloth with gold lettering on the spine. No DJ's, but the books are protected with clear mylar jackets. The spines are faded a half tone (or less) less vibrant than the covers. Bindings all tight. Page edges toned from age, all within the same range. Volume 1 says 'New Edition Revised' on the title page, but is not dated there. Copyright page dated October 1939. 611 pages. Volume 2 doesn't mention being a New Edition. Copyright page dated October 1934. 650 pages. Volume 3 says only 'First Published 1936' on copyright. 607 pages. Volume 4 says 'First Published 1938'. 670 pages. A handsome set of Churchill's pre-war biography of his ancestor. Volumes 3 and 4 are first printings. The bibliography of the International Churchill Society calls these the First Home Edition, and numbers them A40(aa). A nice clean copy. Previous owner has written his name and date 25 Dec 98 on the corner of the front endpaper of each. This set is from the collection of Prof. Christopher Sterling, a voracious and discerning collector of Churchill books, many others of which we are pleased to offer alongside this set. Please email with questions or to request photos. If you see a photo beside this listing, please be aware that it s an ABE Stock Photo (whatever that is) and not a photo of this book. Extra shipping will be necessary for this multi-volume set
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1131.10 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Four volume set in matching purple cloth hard covers, in dust jackets. Jackets are substantially complete, but toned, with varying edge-wear and short tears, and a longer one on the spine of Vol. II (now neat in new archival mylar sleeves). Light shelf-wear and some small areas of fading to covers. Toning to edges and endpapers; old owner's blind-stamp to bottom of title-page in each volume. Otherwise clean, tight and unmarked. Very neat -- still a sound and handsome set. Internally fine, with numerous fold-out plates, all in fine condition. 2552 pages, 133 illustrations in photogravure, 196 maps and plans, and 14 facsimiles of documents. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall
Seller: CARDINAL BOOKS ~~ ABAC/ILAB, London -- Birr, ON, Canada
Price: US$1256.06 + shipping
Description: "Limited Presentation Edition" of Churchill's biography of the first Duke of Marlborough, his ancestor and inspiration; a bright fresh set of an edition prone to fading, from the collection of Churchill's bibliographer Ronald Cohen. The "Limited Presentation Edition" is an especially attractive publication of the great biography, using remaining sheets from its original issue between 1933 and 1938. It comprises sheets of the first impressions of volumes three and four and the second impression of volume two, with a new printing of volume one to complete the set; these sheets were uniformly bound in purple cloth, with dust jackets advertising the status of "Limited Presentation Edition" and emphasizing the scope of the complete work: "2,552 pages, 113 illustrations in photogravure, 196 maps and plans, and 14 facsimiles of documents". The set comprises the only offering to the public of the complete work simultaneously in four volumes - later editions were reduced to two volumes, or abridged. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1715), Marlborough led allied forces to victory against Louis XIV. His signal successes at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet distinguish him as one of the great captains of history. Churchill worked on his biography for almost a decade and was given exclusive access to the Blenheim archives to research the book. On publication, the work "took its place at once among the classics of historical writing. As the story of his ancestor's leadership of a grand alliance to prevent the domination of the continent by a single power, it was also a source of inspiration to Churchill in his campaign against appeasement" (ODNB). Provenance: Ronald Cohen, with his ownership inscription in pencil on the front free endpapers. Cohen's Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill, published in three volumes in 2006, is the authoritative source for collectors, librarians, and dealers. Cohen A97.5. 4 volumes, octavo. Original purple cloth, spines lettered in gilt. With dust jackets. Profusely illustrated with plates, portrait, maps and facsimiles. Jackets price-clipped with a few nicks and chips at extremities: a fine set in near-fine jackets.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom