Marlborough: His Life and Times, full set of four British first edition, first printings in dust jackets

Winston S. Churchill

Verlag: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1933

Beschreibung

This is a full set of four British first edition, first printings in dust jackets, featuring very good or better volumes in very good dust jackets. This British first trade edition of Winston Churchill s monumental biography of his great ancestor, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, is physically impressive. The books measure 9.25 x 6.25 inches and are roughly 2 inches thick. Each is bound in plum cloth with beveled edges and the Marlborough coat of arms gilt on the front cover. Moreover, each volume is profusely illustrated, the contents bound with headbands, and gilt top edge. Unfortunately, the plum cloth binding of Volumes I-III proved highly susceptible to sun fading. (A different, more fade-resistant dye was used in Volume IV.) Without dust jackets, Volumes I-III are nearly always faded and jacketed first editions are scarce.Particularly scarce are first printing dust jackets for Volumes I & II. Collectors should be wary of price-clipped dust jackets, as later impression Volume I & II dust jackets state either "2nd Impression" or "3rd Impression" on the lower front flap beside the price. No such problem applies to Volumes III & IV, which each had only a single printing.Additionally, the dust jackets themselves proved highly susceptible to soiling and toning.This set s bindings are beautifully clean and tight, with sharp corners, vivid gilt, and only minor blemishes and trivial hints of shelf wear, confined to extremities. The spines are exceptionally bright as only jacketed copies can be, with only small instances of sunning to a few spine ends corresponding to small dust jacket losses, most notably at the bottom of the Volume III spine. The contents of all four volumes are tight with a crisp, unread feel. The sole previous ownership mark we find is a contemporary "Xmas, 1934" gift inscription inked to the Volume II front free endpaper recto. The top edges remain bright with minor scuffs. The contents show mild age-toning, most visible to the fore and bottom edges. Spotting is minor for the edition, light and primarily confined to the endpapers, first and final leaves, and fore and bottom edges.All four first printing dust jackets are unclipped, retaining their original front flap prices, and highly complete. Small chip losses all small enough to remain within the maroon edge margins are confined to the spine ends and flap fold corners. We would grade these jackets better than "very good" if not for uniform toning across all four spines despite which shelf presentation is still quite respectable. The jackets show minor soiling and blemishes, most notably a few marks on the Volume II spine and what looks like a faint, vertical drip line to the Volume I spine. All four jackets are protected beneath clear, removable, archival covers. Winston Churchill's biography of John Churchill was initially conceived a full 40 years before publication of the final volume. Marlborough ultimately took 10 years of research and writing and is the most substantial published work of Churchill's 1930s "wilderness years". This decade saw Churchill pass into his sixties with his own future as uncertain as that of his nation. Churchill may have wondered more than once if the life history he was writing would eclipse his own. Of course, it did not; the final volume was published almost exactly one year before the outbreak of the Second World War and just twenty months before Churchill became wartime prime minister.T.E. Lawrence "Of Arabia" praised it as "history, solemn and decorative." James Lewis Garvin, editor of The Observer, wrote "I think it to be… the greatest of all your works." When Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, it was partly for "mastery of historical and biographical description" displayed in Marlborough. Reference: Cohen A97.2(I-IV).a, Woods/ICS A40(aa), Langworth p.166. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 008003

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Marlborough: His Life and Times, full set of...

Verlag: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London

Erscheinungsdatum: 1933

Einband: Hardcover

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Schutzumschlag

Auflage: First edition, first printing.