Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
CHURCHILL, Winston S.. The Second World War.. London Cassell & Co. Ltd. -1954., 1948.
Price: US$1282.76 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITIONS. WITH A SIGNED LETTER FROM CHURCHILL'S SECRETARY. 6 volumes. 8vo. (21 x 14 cm). Original black cloth, spines lettered in gilt, top edges dyed red, in the unclipped dust-jackets. With a typed letter addressed to W.G. Burton, Esq. dated 2nd March 1951 written and signed by Churchill's secretary Monica Graham thanking the recipient for his suggestion regarding a passage in Vol. 3. In the original envelope. Maps and diagrams throughout, some folding. With an old receipt in volume 3 made out to W.G. Burton. Spines lightly and evenly faded, generally an excellent set with exceptionally bright and crisp dust-jackets. Churchill's masterpiece, the single most important historical account of the Second World War, and a major factor in Churchill being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. Woods, A123 (b)
Seller: Robert Frew Ltd. ABA ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: This 4 August July 1948 holograph letter is from "indefatigable Churchill literary assistant" Denis Kelly to Desmond Flower of Cassell regarding uncorrected errors in the soon-to be published British first edition of the first volume of The Second World War, The Gathering Storm (published 4 October 1948). The holograph letter is inked entirely in Kellys hand on the recto of a sheet of Hyde Park Gate stationery. Dated by Kelly "11/8/48" (11 August 1948), it reads: "Dear Flower, Ive found a number of rather hefty misprints in The Gathering Storm, & will send you a list " Kelly acknowledges " that it is too late to do anything about it now " but suggests a review protocol for Cassell to follow " before you print a second edition " Tellingly, Kelly concludes "I havent broken the news to W.S.C. yet, but I hope there isn't a second gathering storm about to break!" Pencil annotation at the upper left reads: "Mr. B [indecipherable} saw Mr. Kelly". The letter was acquired from an archive regarding Churchills publishing history with Cassell.Condition is near fine, clean with minor corner creases and centered vertical and horizontal folds consonant with original mailing. When Newman Flower of Cassell secured publication rights to Churchills war memoirs, it was "perhaps the greatest coup of twentieth century publishing." It fell to Newmans son, Desmond John Newman Flower (1907-1997), to oversee the actual publication and manage an author of Churchills towering stature and exacting standards."Almost the last thing that Flower did before joining the Army in 1940 was to prepare the first volume of Churchills wartime speeches." Desmond landed in Normandy and won the MC in Operation Bluecoat in August 1944, returning to Cassell in 1946 to begin a new battle - to rebuild the firm, which had lost both its offices and warehouse to bombing and now faced the crippling constraint of paper rationing. Churchills post-war literary output, particularly the six volumes of The Second World War, not only ensured his own financial security, but also proved the essential asset to Cassells postwar recovery.Churchill was an author that Cassell could neither control nor do without. Churchill had written to Flower personally on 14 July not only to personal supply Errata and Corrigenda, but also to specify where they would be placed in the published edition. Further errors were identified just before the final binding, resulting in an additional tipped-in slip. Among the embarrassing errors (if one regards French military prowess) was describing the French Army as the poop rather than the prop of France. Churchill wrote to Flower on 10 August "I was shocked at some of the mistakes". By November of 1949, Cassell had bowed to its author and published a second edition of Volume I incorporating corrections.Denis Kelly (1916-1990) served during the Second World War in the Indian Mountain Artillery in India and Burma (1941-45). After the war Kelly joined Churchills literary team, first as an archivist, then as a literary assistant on Churchills war memoirs. On 14 May 1947, Churchill met Kelly at Chartwell. Showing him a cellar "stacked from floor to ceiling" Churchill tasked Kelly thus: "Your task, my boy, is to make Cosmos out of Chaos." Kelly approached the task with not only diligence, but some reverence: "I realised that I was handling the personal papers of a man who had experienced and shaped the history of the world in the last fifty years " (Gilbert, Vol. VIII, p.331.) Kelly became a vital part of Churchills literary team for the rest of Churchills productive life as an author, not only assisting with The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, but also preparing the abridged, one-volume Memoirs of the Second World War (published 1959). Kellys papers, including correspondence with Sir Martin Gilbert, now reside in the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$8200.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, second issue of the first volume of Churchill's masterpiece, The Second World War with the errata slip tipped into page 610. Octavo, bound in full 20th century crushed levant morocco by Zaehnsdorf with gilt titles to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panel, gilt turn-ins and inner denelles stamp-signed by Zaehnsdorf, marbeld endpapers, all edges gilt, errata slip tipped into page 610. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Winston S. Churchill 1955." Gilt inscription to the spine, "Obsequio de Cesar Guillen Al Sindicato de Periodistas July 1955." In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. "The Gathering Storm," the inaugural volume of Winston Churchill's seminal work, "The Second World War," presents a meticulously researched and analytically rigorous examination of the geopolitical landscape preceding the global conflict. Published in 1948, Churchill, drawing extensively from his tenure as Britain's Prime Minister during the war, navigates the intricate web of political maneuverings, diplomatic failures, and ideological tensions that precipitated the outbreak of hostilities. Through a dispassionate lens, Churchill scrutinizes the shortcomings of leadership and policy that allowed totalitarian ambitions to thrive unchecked, offering incisive commentary on the complexities of international relations. Grounded in historical documentation and personal observations, "The Gathering Storm" serves as a cornerstone in the study of the prelude to World War II, providing invaluable insights into the mechanisms of power, diplomacy, and the human condition amidst a turbulent era of upheaval and uncertainty.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$10000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: This very good set of First English editions in dust jackets is signed in Volume III on the half-title page: "Inscribed for Norman McGowan, Winston S. Churchill, 1951." NORMAN McGOWAN served as Winston Churchill's valet from 1949 until retiring in 1952. He subsequently published a memoir, MY YEARS WITH CHURCHILL, in 1958. A First English edition copy of that book (with M[a]cgowan's name misspelled on the dust jacket) is included here, preserved in a blue quarter-leather solander (stamped: THE SECOND WORLD WAR / Vol. III on the spine). Winston Churchill apparently presented his valet with signed copies of other volumes of THE SECOND WORLD WAR; in MY YEARS WITH CHURCHILL there is a photo of Mr. McGowan reading a signed First American edition copy of Volume IV. The dust jackets of this First English set are exceptionally bright on the faces, and significantly unfaded on the traditionally fade-prone spines. Volume I jacket spine has darkened with age but the spine type is still legible. There is edge-wear at the jacket spine heads of all volumes and Volumes IV-VI are price-clipped. The books are all fine, the black cloth clean and the bindings tight. The red topstains have faded variably, with the exception of very bright Volumes V and VI. The contents are fine, with foxing to the fore-edges only. A lovely set overall with an intimate provenance. First English Edition Set (Cohen A240.4[I-VI].a) (Woods A123ba).
Seller: CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.A.
CHURCHILL, Winston S.. The Second World War.. London: Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1948-54, 1948.
Price: US$11224.16 + shipping
Description: First UK editions, first impressions, inscribed by the author on the title page of Volume III: "To Ava from Winston S. Churchill 1955". The recipient was the political and social hostess Ava Anderson, Viscountess Waverley (1895-1974), who helped Churchill to warn the nation about German re-armament in the 1930s, and was closely linked to many of the leading players of Britain's wartime government. Ava's first husband was Ralph Wigram, head of the Central Department in 1935. Over many trips to Churchill's Chartwell home, when he was effectively exiled from government, the couple leaked him details of the scale of Germany's re-armament to Churchill, providing the evidence for him to attack the government's complacency. After Ralph's early death in 1936 Churchill continued a close and affectionate correspondence with Ava. In 1941 she married Sir John Anderson, Lord President of the Council and later Chancellor of the Exchequer in the wartime Cabinet. "She created for herself a role over four decades as a highly regarded hostess in political and cultural circles. Resilient in adversity, she brought warmth and contentment to John Anderson who was strongly protective of her. Forthright and astute, she was well suited to the position of political confidante, appreciated for her judgement and discretion as well as her lively personality. Churchill found her useful and Macmillan welcomed her sympathy and understanding. Intelligent, empathetic, witty, and outgoing, she was adept at eliciting information, but kept confidences to herself and could offer disinterested support, characteristics which substantiate the judgement that in her chosen sphere she 'probably exercise[d] more indirect influence than any woman of her generation' (The Times, 24 Dec 1974)" (ODNB). Churchill's masterpiece is the single most important historical account of the Second World War and a major factor in him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. As Max Beloff observed, there was no statesman of the 20th century "whose retrospective accounts of the great events in which he has taken part have so dominated subsequent historical thinking". Churchill was contractually obliged to allow the US editions to be published first, but he treated the Cassell editions as definitive and reserved his final proof corrections for them. Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes. Cohen A240.4; Woods A123(b). 6 volumes, octavo. Original black cloth, spines lettered in gilt, grey endpapers decorated with a design that alternates a lion rampant with the initials W.S.C., top edges pink. With typographical dust jackets with background design to match endpapers. Maps and diagrams, some folding. Publisher's announcement loosely inserted in vol. V. Some light spotting to edges; jackets with minor edge wear and a few closed tears, spine panels sunned, unclipped: a very good set in like jackets.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom