Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Churchill , Winston S.. The World Crisis. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1949.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Front hinge is loose. Light wear to cloth. Fifty-three maps and all are present and in good condition . Name of previous owner on front pastedown and on front endpaper .
Seller: The History Place, Palestine, TX, U.S.A.
Winston Churchill. The world crisis, 1911-1918,. Scribner's January 1949, 1949.
Price: US$57.85 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: used hardcover copy, lacking a dust jacket, red cloth board. light shelfwear, corners perhaps slightly bumped. pages and binding are clean, straight, and tight. there are no marks to the text or other serious flaws save for the lack of the original jacket.
Seller: Magus Books Seattle, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Churchill, Hon Winston S.. The World Crisis. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949.
Price: US$59.98 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Third and final printing of Churchill's history, first abridged and revised edition. Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Wear to DJ. Clean, unmarked pages. Cohen A69.5.c, Woods/ICS A31(ba), Langworth p.114
Seller: Sequitur Books, Boonsboro, MD, U.S.A.
Churchill, Winston.. World Crisis.. Scribners, 1949., 1949.
Price: US$97.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Three volumes in one. Reprint of 1923-1931. 866p. Folding maps. Covers 1911-1918. Heavy. Red cloth. Near Fine Copy
Seller: Military Books, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: xii, 866 pages. One-volume edition, footnotes, maps (some fold-out, color), charts, tables, appendices, index. Embossed stamp on title-page. Slightly cocked. Cover has some wear and soiling. Some discoloration inside front and rear hinges, some scuffing to boards, slight darkening to text. This book is based on Winston Churchill's experiences as First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I. Churchill originally published his history of World War I in four volumes; this book is a continuous narrative in one volume. The World Crisis is Winston Churchill's account of World War I, originally published in five volumes (usually mistaken for six volumes, as Volume III was published in two parts). Published between 1923 and 1931, in many respects, it prefigures his better-known multivolume The Second World War. The World Crisis is analytical and, in some parts, a justification by Churchill of his role in the war. Churchill is reputed to have said about this work that it was "not history, but a contribution to history".His American biographer William Manchester wrote: "His masterpiece is The World Crisis, published over a period of several years, 1923 to 1931, a multi-volume, 3,261-page account of the Great War, beginning with its origins in 1911 and ending with its repercussions in the 1920s. Magnificently written, it is enhanced by the presence of the author at the highest councils of war and in the trenches as a battalion commander". The page total is 2517 pages without the Eastern Front volume. The British historian Robert Rhodes James writes: "For all its pitfalls as history, The World Crisis must surely stand as Churchill's masterpiece. After it, anything must appear as anticlimax". The news he was writing about the war was all over London; he chose The Times for the serial rights rather than the magazine Metropolitan, and with advances from his English and American publishers, he told a guest in 1921 that it was exhilarating to write for half a crown a word (a pound for eight words). The title was settled as The World Crisis rather than Sea Power and the World Crisis. Dawson of The Times had suggested The Great Amphibian. The question of copyright and of quoting confidential government documents was raised by Andrew Bonar Law, but other authors like Fisher, Jellicoe and Kitchener had done so.Successive volumes were published from 1923 to 1931 by Thornton Butterworth in England and Scribner's in America. The first (American) advances enabled him to purchase a new Rolls-Royce in August 1921. In 1922, he had purchased "Chartwell", a large house requiring expensive repairs and rebuilding. He justified his position and actions such as on the Dardanelles Campaign. The reception was generally good. Arthur Balfour said he was reading Churchill's "autobiography disguised as a history of the universe"
Seller: Ground Zero Books, Ltd., Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis. Charles Scribner's Sons, E-025, 1949.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardcover. 8vo. Charles A. Scribners, New York. 1949. Xii, 866 pgs. Illustrated with maps and charts. Later printing. DJ has shelf-wear present to the DJ extremities (DJ is chipped and worn to the spine ends and edges of the DJ). Bound in cloth boards with titles present to the spine . Boards have light shelf-wear present to the extremities. Previous owner's bookplate (Virginia Glee Club Member Henry Park Xanders) present to the front pastedown. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. The World Crisis is considered by many to be Winston S. Churchill's literary masterpiece. Published across five volumes between 1923 and 1931, Churchill here tells the story of The Great War, from its origins to the long shadow it cast on the following decades. At once a history and a first-hand account of Churchill's own involvement in the war, The World Crisis remains a compelling account of the conflict and its importance. This important edition covering the war years 1911-1918 is not just an abridgement. It incorporates revisions by Churchill with new material, including a whole new chapter on the Battle of the Marne, as well as a new introduction. EB; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 866 pages
Seller: Last Exit Books, Charlottesville, VA, U.S.A.
Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis: The Story of World War I (WW). Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: This is a very solid, clean copy but for a short inscription on the front flyleaf. No other markings inside or out. Corners of red boards still sharp. Maps are still very sharp, with top edges ever so slightly tanned (quite minimal.) Jacket has moderate wear and tiny tears all around the edges, with minor chipping at bottom of spine. A desirable copy that presents very well in new mylar. (Pics available.)
Seller: Bayfront Bookshelf, Erie, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$295.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Maps and charts, folding; Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall; 866 pages; 1949 Charles Scribner's Sons. Stout HC/DJ. 1st printing of the revised single volume edition with a new introduction by Churchill. Soundly bound in original thatch pattern red cloth with titles brightly in gilt to spine. This copy retains the original pictorial dust jacket with publisher's $7.50 issue price to unclipped front flap. Jacket is rubbed and worn at edges with surface stress; several shallow chips missing from spine ends and edges; there is a small open snag on the rear jacket flap fold and light general toning to the rear panel. Profusely illustrated with maps, many folding. One map toward rear has an old cello tape mend to the fold. All others sharp and neat. VG+/G . Oversize book may require additional charges for expedited or international shipping.
Seller: DogStar Books, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Winston S. Churchill. The World Crisis. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1949.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: This is a collector grade copy of the first abridged and revised edition, third and final printing of Churchill's history of the First World War in the dust jacket unique to this printing. Churchill's history - which he titled "The World Crisis" - was originally published between 1923 and 1931. Of The World Crisis, Churchill bibliographer Frederick Woods wrote: "The volumes contain some of Churchill's finest writing, weaving the many threads together with majestic ease, describing the massive battles in terms which fitly combine relish of the literary challenge with an awareness of the sombre tragedy of the events." Churchill was in a special position to write this history, having served both in the Cabinet and on the front. He served as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911 until 1915. After the failure in the Dardanelles and the slaughter at Gallipoli Churchill was scapegoated and forced to resign. He spent his political exile as a lieutenant colonel leading a battalion in the trenches. Before war's end, Churchill was exonerated and rejoined the Government, but the stigma would linger. Churchill may have meant for his history of the First World War to clear his name, but his masterwork - originally published in six volumes between 1923 and 1931 - far exceeds this purpose. This important edition covering the war years 1911-1918 is not just an abridgement. It incorporates revisions by Churchill with new material, including a whole new chapter on the Battle of the Marne, as well as a new introduction. The U.S. edition preceded the British, making it the true first edition. There were three printings of the U.S. first abridged and revised edition - 1931, 1942, and 1949. All three are quite scarce in the original dust jackets. Here is the third printing, with a black dust jacket unique to this printing that prominently features a famous wartime photo of Churchill by Yousuf Karsh on the front face. A large book and quality production, it is 866 pages with fold-out maps and illustrations, bound in an attractive, vertically scored red cloth. This is a beautiful, near fine plus copy in a near fine dust jacket. The red cloth binding is square, tight, and immaculately clean with nicely rounded spine. The only exterior flaws noted are lightly bumped upper corners. The contents are notably bright with no spotting and no previous ownership marks. All fold-out maps and illustrations are present and pristine. We note only a trace of barely discernible soiling to the otherwise bright page edges. The black dust jacket of this edition proved particularly susceptible to wear and scuffing, perhaps owing to the thin paper of the dust jacket (which was printed black on white paper), and the size and weight of the book. This dust jacket is near fine with perhaps the best spine presentation weve seen; the red spine lettering remains vividly bright with no trace of sunning and there is only minor wear to the spine ends and rear hinge. The dust jacket is unclipped, retaining the original front flap price. The illustrated front face shows only light scuffing with no loss. The sole trivial losses are a .5 inch chip to the upper edge of the rear face and a closed tear with some wrinkling and small chip losses to the rear flap fold. Withal, an exceptionally well-preserved example of a striking and notoriously fragile dust jacket. The dust jacket is protected in a removable, archival clear cover. Bibliographic reference: Cohen A69.5.c, Woods/ICS A31(ba), Langworth p.114
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.