Comprising: The Birth of Britain; The New World; The Age of Revolution and The Great Democracies.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Comprising: The Birth of Britain; The New World; The Age of Revolution and The Great Democracies.
Cassell, 1956.
Four volumes, all first editions. 8vo. Red cloth in pictorial dustwrappers. Top edge red. Numerous maps printed in black and white. An excellent set. All books in fine condition and dustwrappers in near fine condition, with slight fading to the spines of first two volumes.
Churchill's great history of the Anglosphere.
Originally commissioned by Newman Flower at Cassells in 1933, Churchill had only completed part of the project by the outbreak of war in 1939, when he returned to his old post as First Lord of the Admiralty. It was not until the end of the war and the loss of the election in 1945 that Churchill had the time to return to his writing. However it was only after he had completed his six volume "Second World War" that he felt inclined to look again at the History. The first volume was published in April 1956, and was closely followed by the second volume in November 1956. By the early months of 1957 he had finished the entire work and delivered it to Cassell, and the subsequent two volumes were published in October 1957 and March 1958, all priced at 30s. "Cassells paid him a lump sum of $100,000 [approximately £20,000 at the time] for it, the largest down-payment of its kind ever made in England."
Wood A138(a)
Stock ID: 44468