Winston Churchill THE SECOND WORLD WAR True First Edition Set
roll over the image to zoom in
Winston Churchill THE SECOND WORLD WAR True First Edition Set
Complete Six Volume Set, all First Edition Hardbacks of THE SECOND WORLD WAR, by Winston Churchill and published by Cassell and Company Ltd, London. They are all with original True first edition jackets, printed on uncoated paper and contain the price '25s. NET' on the first four Volumes and '30s NET' on Volumes V and VI.The Second World War is a history of the period from the end of the First World War to July 1945, written by Winston Churchill. It was largely responsible for his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. Churchill labelled the "moral of the work" as follows: "In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill".
When Churchill assumed office in 1940, he fully intended to write a history of the war then beginning. He said several times: "I will leave judgements on this matter to history but I will be one of the historians." To circumvent the rules against the use of official documents, he took the precaution throughout the war of having a weekly summary of correspondence, minutes, memorandum and other documents printed in galleys and headed "Prime Minister's personal minutes". These were then stored at his home for future use.
As well, Churchill actually wrote or dictated a number of letters and memoranda with the specific intention of placing his views on the record for later use as a historian. These arrangements became a source of controversy when The Second World War began appearing in 1948. Churchill was not an academic historian, he was a politician, and was in fact Leader of the Opposition, still intending to return to office, so his access to Cabinet, military and diplomatic records, which was denied to other historians, was questioned.
Churchill's privileged access to documents and his unrivalled personal knowledge gave him an advantage over all other historians of the Second World War for many years. The book was a major commercial success in Britain and the United States. The first edition appeared in six volumes; later editions appeared in twelve and four volumes, and there was also a single-volume abridged version. These are the First edition (hardcover) in six volumes.
Please see below for descriptions of each volume.
VOLUME I: THE GATHERING STORM: 1948 First edition, first print hardback. First published in the UK in 1948. The book is in very good condition. Original black cloth with only very slight reading wear, gilt lettering on spine and some faded red top page ends. The dust jacket is in good condition (small pieces missing from the top and bottom spine edges, light browning to spine and inside the jacket, a small piece missing from the top edge at the front, otherwise intact and unclipped). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no inscriptions.
"Theme of the Volume: 'How the English-speaking peoples, through their wisdom, carelessness and good nature, allowed the wicked to rearm.'
Volume I of Mr. Churchill's memoirs of the Second World War is devoted to an examination of the events which led Britain to a point where war with Germany became once more inevitable; to the drama surrounding the actual outbreak; and to the first seven months which ended in Mr. Churchill becoming Prime Minister."
640 pages with preface, appendixes and index. Includes a fold-out map and errata slips.
VOLUME II: THEIR FINEST HOUR: 1949 First edition, first print hardback. First published in the UK in 1949. The book is in good condition. Original black cloth with slight fading to the board, gilt lettering on spine and slightly faded red top page ends. The dust jacket is in good condition (some fraying to top spine edges, slight rubbing to top spine edges and top corners, light browning (black stain from the jacket) to inside the jacket, otherwise intact and unclipped). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no inscriptions.
"Theme of the Volume: 'How the British people held the fort alone till those who hitherto had been half blind were half ready.'
The Second Volume of Mr. Churchill's story of the late war deals with the period between May 1940 and the end of that year. It embraces Mr. Churchill's first days as Prime Minister, the defeat and fall of France, the evacuation from Dunkirk, the uneasy summer when the enemy was daily expected upon our shores, and the first gleams of light as the danger of invasion faded and the year closed with Desert Victory. Eight months in which Great Britain stood alone at bay - the only European power still left to carry on the struggle.
Eight months in which the Nazi fleet tried hard to snap the life-lines which brought willing aid to this island from its distant Dominions and Colonies; eight months in which the Luftwaffe tried and failed to drive the R.A.F. from the skies so that this last stronghold of European freedom might lie at the mercy of the Nazi war machine. Eight months in which Mr. Churchill led a grim and resolute people in resistance to every challenge, bringing the period to a close with the first victorious counter-attack."
684 pages with appendixes and index. Includes 21 maps/ fold-out maps and diagrams.
VOLUME III: THE GRAND ALLIANCE: 1950 First edition, first print hardback. First published in UK in 1950. The book is in good condition with Original black cloth with only very slight reading wear, gilt lettering on spine and faded top page ends. The dust jacket is in good condition (some fraying to the spine edges, the odd chip, light browning to the spine and inside the jacket, otherwise intact and unclipped). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no inscriptions. There is slight foxing on the page ends.
"Theme of the Volume: 'How the British fought on with hardship until Soviet Russia and the United States were drawn into the Great Conflict'
In this Third Volume Mr. Churchill carries his personal story of the Second World War through 1941: a year of momentous events. Beginning with the sunshine of desert victory, the sky was soon dulled by the clouds gathering over Greece, and darkened by the ensuing desert there, in Crete, and in the Western desert. Yet through the shadows came sudden shafts of light; the Bismark was caught and sunk in May; Hitler marched upon Russia in June; the Prime Minister and the President of the United States held their first meeting in July, and before the year was out Japan had struck at Pearl Harbour. Through twelve months of bitter struggle, still at first alone, Britain's slender resources had been juggled to meet the blows which rained upon her. But by the end of the year and of this volume, the design of victory had been drawn: the Grand Alliance had begun.
Though there is much drama in this volume - the heroic and so-nearly successful defence of Crete, and the hunting of the Bismark are both unforgettable epics, its chief interest for the reader will most probably be the mass of documents and information, given by Mr. Churchill for the first time, which show how, step by arduous, hard-fought, and often unseen and undramatic step, Britain's account was drawn out of the red and her final victory, with her new Allies, assured."
818 pages with appendixes and index. Includes 23 maps/ fold-out maps and diagrams.
VOLUME IV: THE HINGE OF FATE: 1951 First edition, first print hardback. First published in the UK in 1951. The book is in very good condition. Original black cloth with only very slight reading wear, gilt lettering on spine and slight faded red top page ends. The dust jacket is in good condition (some fraying to the spine edges, the odd chip, rubbing to edges, light browning to the spine and inside the jacket, a one inch closed tear to top spine corner at the back, otherwise intact and unclipped). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no inscriptions. There is some foxing on the page ends.
"Theme of the Volume: 'How the power of the Grand Alliance became preponderant.'
Mr. Churchill has called this volume The Hinge of Fate because in it the Western powers turn from almost uninterrupted defeat to almost unbroken success. Volume III of Mr. Churchill's work closed with the announcement by President Roosevelt and the Prime Minister together in Washington of the Grand Alliance, destined to ride through every storm to victory. On the 17th January, 1942, Mr. Churchill landed once more at Plymouth, and it is at this point that the narrative of the present volume opens.
It tells first of the heavy blows which fell upon the newly-formed Alliance as the Japanese struck by land and by sea, and in Libya the Afrika Korps advanced to its farthest points with some tanks cruising almost in the outskirts of Alexandria. From the nadir, enought to bring despair to all but the most resolute, there follows the slow but thereafter ever-steady climb to a vastly changed position of comparative security. From the line of Alamein Rommel is thrown back. In North Africa the British land and fight shoulder to shoulder for the first time with their as yet untried American allies. Mr. Churchill journeys to Moscow, to Cairo, to Casablanca, and once again to Washington. The Afrika Korps ceases to exist. In the Pacific too, despite the heavy blows endured, the tide has turned."
917 pages with appendixes and index. Includes 37 maps/ fold-out maps and diagrams.
VOLUME V: CLOSING THE RING: 1952 First edition, first print hardback. First published in the UK in 1952. The book is in very good condition. Original black cloth with only very slight reading wear, gilt lettering on spine and red top page ends. The dust jacket is in good condition (some fraying to the spine edges, the odd chip, rubbing to edges, light browning to the spine and inside the jacket, slight rubbing to top corners, otherwise intact and unclipped). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no inscriptions. There are one or two small light spots on the page ends.
"Theme of the Volume: 'How Nazi Germany was isolated and assailed on all sides'
The Fifth Volume of Mr. Churchill's memoirs covers the decisive twelve months between June 1943 and June 1944. The command of the seas had returned into Allied hands, the U-boats were mastered, and the Luftwaffe beaten in the skies. These achievements made possible that 'closing of the ring' which was to extinguish Axis resistance and eventually end the war.
"The danger which faced the United Nations was no longer Defeat but Stalemate. Before them lay the formidable task of invading the aggressors in their homelands". It is with the tackling of this task that the fifth volume of Mr. Churchill's history is occupied. The problem was faced at the conferences at Quebec, Washington and Tehran - all of which are here described in detail. Frankly and unreservedly Mr. Churchill recounts the differences and divergences of opinion between the three great partners, Britain, U.S.A. and Russia and tells how agreement was reached upon all the supreme issues.
The story of alternating successes and failures, of hopes and disappointments, and of ever-growing confidence in victory leads us, in this volume, to the eve of the landing in Normandy, the climax of the war. Africa was cleared; Japan was recoiling on her own homeland; India need no longer fear invasion; Italy, freed from the Fascist yoke, fighting side by side with the Allies; Russian armies were driving the German invaders back into their own country. 'While I sat in my chair in the Map Room of the Annexe', writes Mr. Churchill as he concludes this volume, 'the thrilling news of the capture of Rome arrived. The immense cross-Channel enterprise for the liberation of France had begun. All the ships were at sea. We had the mastery of the ocean and the air. The Hitler tyranny was doomed.'"
673 pages with appendixes and index. Includes 21 maps/ fold-out maps and diagrams.
VOLUME VI: TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY: 1954 First edition, first print hardback. First published in the UK in 1954. The book is in very good condition. Original black cloth with only very slight reading wear, gilt lettering on spine and red top page ends. The dust jacket is in good condition (some fraying to the spine edges, the odd chip, rubbing to edges, light browning to the spine and inside the jacket, slight rubbing to top corners and small peeling to a small part of the top edge at the front, otherwise intact and unclipped). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no inscriptions.
"Theme of the Volume: 'How the great Democracies triumphed and so were able to resume the follies which had so nearly cost them their life'
With this sixth volume Sir Winston Churchill brings to an end his history of the Second World War. It covers the whole of the tremendous climax from the Anglo-American landings in Normandy on June 6th 1944 until the surrender of all our enemies fourteen months later."
716 pages with appendixes and index. Includes 27 maps/ fold-out maps and diagrams.
NOTE: This is a very heavy item, weighing more than 5 kilograms when packaged.
We use industry standard packaging
Items are sent promptly and well packed
Please do check our other listings
* Combined postage if more than one item is purchased
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
£0.00
£60.00
Earn180
reward points
reward points
Send this to a friend
Winston Churchill THE SECOND WORLD WAR True First Edition Set
Related Products...
