A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES

London: Cassell and Co, 1956, 57, 58. 4 volumes. First edition of each volume. With numerous maps throughout. 8vo, publisher's original crimson cloth lettered in gilt on the spines, in bright, original pictorial dustjackets. xxi, 395; xi, 325; xi, 312; xi, 304. Index in each volume. A very clean and very bright set, the books handsome and fine but for the most trivial evidence of age, the jackets bright and fresh occasionally with some very minor rubbing along the edges and folds. AN IMPORTANT SET OF FIRST EDITIONS. By the beginning of World War II, Churchill had already penned half a million words of this manuscript. Lying dormant through almost six years of war followed by an even longer period in which Churchill wrote his war memoirs, this work finally was brought to fruition in 1956.
The first two volumes of this set were published in April and November 1956 respectively, the third in October 1957, and the last in March 1958. Whereas the first two volumes sold briskly, the final two were less successful and were not reprinted for years.
Sir Winston Churchill ranks among the greatest men of history. He was born in 1874, a descendent of the great Duke of Marlborough. After an education at Harrow and Sandhurst he entered the army in 1895 and embarked on one of the most varied and distinguished careers of the century. He acted as a correspondent for the Morning Post during the Boer War and his dramatic escape from prison in Pretoria brought him to public attention. He embarked on his political career in 1900 by entering Parliament. While there he held many major offices of state: Home Secretary, Secretary of State for War, First Lord of the Admiralty in which he oversaw naval operations for the First World War, Colonial Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and eventually in 1940, Prime Minister. The latter office he would hold throughout World War Two and again from 1951 to 1955.
He was a prolific writer, always submerged in simultaneous multi-facted projects. He finished both A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES and his other great multi-volume work THE SECOND WORLD WAR during the same period as he was perfecting his style of painting and writing PAINTING AS A PASTIME. His death in 1965 sent the whole world into mourning and his funeral was on of the most moving public events of the century.