Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Winston S. Churchill. The Sinews of Peace. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1949.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: This is the first U.S. edition, only printing of the first volume of Churchill's postwar speeches. The book contains speeches from the end of the war through the end of 1946. The U.S. editions of Churchill's postwar speeches were produced in far fewer numbers than the British editions - in this case just 3,000 copies for the U.S. edition as opposed to 10,000 copies for the British edition. The attractive blue covers and dust jacket of this edition proved particularly susceptible to fading. Consequently, they are nearly always found in worn and flawed condition. Here is a near-fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. The blue cloth binding is square, clean, and tight with sharp corners and virtually no wear apart from minor wrinkling to the spine ends. The contents are clean and bright with no previous ownership marks and no spotting. Differential toning to the pastedowns corresponding to the dust jacket flaps confirms that this copy has spent life jacketed. The dust jacket is unclipped, retaining the original $3.00 front flap price. The jacket remains bright with an unfaded spine and only light wear to extremities. The white rear panel and flaps remain bright with only the slightest soiling. The dust jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover. Having done so much to win the war, Churchill faced frustration of his postwar plans when his wartime government fell to Labour in the General Election of July 1945. He remained Leader of the Opposition until the General Election of late October 1951, which returned the Conservative Party to Parliamentary majority and Churchill to Downing Street for his second and final Premiership at the age of 76. The Sinews of Peace contains 29 speeches spanning October 1945 through the end of 1946. These include the famous "Iron Curtain" speech given at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri on 5 March 1946, where Churchill coined the phrase that described the division between the Soviet Union's sphere of influence and the West.This speech incisively framed the Cold War that would dominate the second half of the Twentieth Century. Then-President Harry S. Truman traveled to Fulton in order to personally introduce Churchill. Of equal note is Churchill's famous speech of 19 September 1946 at Zurich University promoting a United Europe.It was this speech that lent bold impetus to formation of what would eventually become the European Union, with Churchill an early, ardent, and vital advocate of pan-European integration.Reference: Cohen A241.2, Woods/ICS A124(b), Langworth p.285.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$700.00 + shipping
Description: Here is a full set of U.S. editions of Churchill's postwar speeches in the scarce dust jackets. These volumes span the period from immediately after the Second World War, when Churchill was Leader of the Opposition, through the end of 1952, during his second Premiership. The events encompassed by these years are in many ways no less dramatic than those of the war years - the unraveling of the British Empire, the post-war recovery, the beginning of the Cold War, Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb and U.S. invention of the hydrogen bomb. The U.S. postwar speeches were published in very small numbers, making jacketed U.S. editions much rarer than their British counterparts. Collectors should note that the U.S. postwar speeches compmrise only four volumes, as the fifth and final volume, The Unwritten Alliance, had no U.S. edition.All four volumes offered here are in near-fine condition with no spotting and no previous owner inscriptions. All four dust jackets are unclipped, still bearing their original front flap prices. Stemming the Tide (one of only 1,850 copies printed and the scarcest of the four) is bright, tight, and square with sharp corners and clean contents. The dust jacket remains bright and clean with unfaded red spine lettering, but shows some chipping at the spine ends and corners. In the Balance (one of 2,000 copies printed) retains a clean, tight, and square brown cloth binding with only trivial shelf wrinkling at the spine ends, as well as crisp, bright contents marred only by dust soiling to the top edge. The unclipped jacket retains unfaded red spine color, showing some edge wear, including a few short closed tears and some chipping at the spine ends. Europe Unite (one of 2,500 copies printed) retains a bright and clean turquoise cloth binding with only minor wrinkling at the spine ends. The contents are bright and clean with minor dust soiling to the top edge. The dust jacket is clean, bright, and highly complete. Spine presentation is superior, with only a barely discernible hint of sunning, fractional losses at the spine corners, and a tiny abrasion above the publisher's name. The Sinews of Peace (one of 3,000 copies printed) features a clean, vivid blue binding, marred only by small bumps at the top corners of the rear cover. The contents are crisp, clean, bright, and tight. The dust jacket is bright and unclipped, showing none of the usual fading, with minor wear mostly confined to the corners and spine ends. All four dust jackets are protected in removable, archival quality clear covers.Reference: Cohen A241.2, A246.2, A255.2, A264.2; Woods/ICS A124(b), A128(b), A130(b), A137(b); Langworth pages 285, 297, 302, 310
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$725.00 + shipping
Description: Here is a full set of U.S. editions of Churchill's postwar speeches in the scarce dust jackets. These volumes span the period from immediately after the second World War, when Churchill was Leader of the Opposition, through the end of 1952, during his second Premiership. The events encompassed by these years are in many ways no less dramatic than those of the war years - the unraveling of the British Empire, the post-war recovery, the beginning of the Cold War, Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb and U.S. invention of the hydrogen bomb. The U.S. postwar speeches were published in very small numbers, making jacketed U.S. editions much rarer than their British counterparts. Collectors should note that the U.S. postwar speeches are only four volumes, as the fifth and final volume, The Unwritten Alliance, had no U.S. edition.All four volumes offered here are in fine condition - clean, tight, and square with unfaded bindings, and bright contents. Three of the four dust jackets are unclipped, with only Stemming the Tide having a neatly price-clipped front flap. Stemming the Tide (one of only 1,850 printed and the scarcest of the four) is a bright and tight example with no spotting and no inscriptions. The dust jacket remains bright and clean, but shows light overall wear and minor chipping at spine ends. In the Balance (one of 2,000 printed) is a likewise fine book with no spotting and no inscriptions. The unclipped jacket retains the original $5.00 price on the front flap and his highly complete, with only minor wear and loss at the spine ends.Europe Unite (one of 2,500 printed) is a fine copy with a bright turquoise binding and tight, clean contents. No spotting and no inscriptions. The dust jacket is bright, clean, and complete, still bearing the $5.00 price on the front flap. Shelf presentation is excellent, with only a hint of color shift between the front face and the spine. What prevents this dust jacket from being near-fine or better is a 2.5 inch closed tear and associated wrinkling at the bottom of the front face. The Sinews of Peace (one of 3,000 printed) is clean and tight with an inked gift inscription dated 1949 on the ffep (from the "Women's Breakfast Club of Saginaw"). The dust jacket is clean, bright, and unclipped, still bearing the original $3.00 price on the front flap. Light wear is confined to the corners and spine extremities and two short closed tears at the hinge. All four dust jackets are protected in removable, archival quality clear covers.Reference: Cohen A241.2, A246.2, A255.2, A264.2; Woods/ICS A124(b), A128(b), A130(b), A137(b); Langworth pages 285, 297, 302, 310
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: Here is a full set of U.S. editions of Churchill's postwar speeches in the scarce dust jackets. These volumes span the period from immediately after the second World War, when Churchill was Leader of the Opposition, through the end of 1952, during his second and final Premiership. The events encompassed by these years are in many ways no less dramatic than those of the war years - the unraveling of the British Empire, the post-war recovery, the beginning of the Cold War, Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb and U.S. invention and first testing of the hydrogen bomb. The U.S. postwar speeches were published in very small numbers, making jacketed U.S. editions much scarcer than their British counterparts. Of note, the U.S. postwar speeches comprise only four volumes, as the fifth and final volume, The Unwritten Alliance, had no U.S. edition. This is the best jacketed set of U.S. editions we have encountered.This set features fine volumes in near fine dust jackets. All four volumes are square, clean, and tight with sharp corners and only minor shelf wear to extremities. The contents of all four volumes are bright and clean with no previous ownership marks. Even the page edges are impressively clean. The sole internal blemish we find is a small rectangular instance of transfer browning, roughly the size of a business card, confined to the blank verso of the Stemming the Tide Introduction, roughly at the center gutter. Whatever was once laid in is now gone. The sole instance of spotting in the set appears to be just a few scattered spots confined to the top edges of Europe Unite. All four dust jackets are unclipped, retaining the original front flap prices, complete, with no loss, and uncommonly bright and clean. All four jackets have light shelf wear to extremities. Only the Stemming the Tide dust jacket shows appreciable scuffing beyond extremities, in this case to the lower spine, but even this jacket more than compensates with impressive shelf presentation, bright, unfaded red print, and exceptionally clean white rear panel and flaps. All four dust jackets are protected beneath clear, removable, archival covers.Reference: Cohen A241.2, A246.2, A255.2, A264.2; Woods/ICS A124(b), A128(b), A130(b), A137(b); Langworth pages 285, 297, 302, 310
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.