The War Speeches. Compiled by Charles Eade in three volumes.
First collected edition, first impression, very handsomely bound for the luxury purveyors Asprey, of the definitive collection of Churchill's war speeches, compiled by his literary secretary. During the war, Churchill's speeches were published in annual volumes. "Produced to cheap standards owing to wartime shortages and restrictions, the original volumes were all out of print by 1952. Cassell decided to reissue the war speeches in a new, expansive and comprehensive edition of three tall, elegant volumes printed in large type and generous margins on quality stock" (Langworth, p. 303). Beyond the superiority of the production standards, the edition includes speeches omitted from the prior publications. "But the best reason to acquire this new edition is that it provides an index - never present in the original volumes - which make it the most readable and useful version of the war speeches" (ibid.). Cohen A263.1(I-III).a; Woods A136. Richard M. Langworth, A Connoisseur's Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, 1998. 3 volumes, octavo (241 x 146 mm). Late 20th-century red morocco for Asprey, spines lettered in gilt, gilt rule to compartments, covers, and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Title pages printed in red and black, facsimile typed notes with manuscript corrections in the text. A fine copy.
More from Peter Harrington
Panoramic photograph of San Francisco earthquake and fire.
An early printed panoramic photograph of San Francisco ablaze during the fire that swept the city following the 1906 earthquake, curiously produced by the Dunlop rubber company, with "Compliments of the Dunlop Rubber Co. of Aus. Ltd" at bottom left. With the photograph showing their building safe and sound while the rest of the city burns, it is possible the implication is the resilience of their products. The original photograph was taken on the 18th April, the day of the earthquake, and was captured from the St Francis Hotel by Arthur Clarence Pillsbury (1870-1946). Pillsbury had worked for the San Francisco Examiner as a photojournalist from 1903 to March 1906, and, though at the time of the earthquake he had left to establish the Pillsbury Picture Company in Oakland, he still had his press pass. Using this pass and his personal contacts with policeman, Pillsbury was able to access parts of the city which were off limits to civilians while the authorities tried to control the blaze, resulting in unparalleled documentary evidence - and particularly arresting shots - of the destruction. Pillsbury is also remembered for his landscapes of Yosemite National Park, and his pioneering time lapse photographs of flowers. The panorama was sold by the photographer's Pillsbury Picture Company, who advertised it as the only panorama of burning San Francisco. The panorama was part of over 300 photographs of the earthquake and fire which the company were offering for sale within a month (see, for example, their advertisement in Camera Craft, vol. XII, May 1906, preceding p. 150). In this example the photograph has been edited, so that the Dunlop building has their name and slogan on the side - Dunlop presumably commissioned an edited form of the panorama from Pillsbury in the aftermath of the general issue, for use as promotion. The original photograph is displayed on the Library of Congress website (item 2007660561). Panoramic photograph, printed in colour (added to original photograph in production), in original dark grey card mount, 88 cm x 22 cm. In dark brown oak frame with conservation acrylic glazing, 92 x 26 cm. Mount a little worn at edges, a few trivial scratches to image; in good condition. King George VI. The Prime Minister’s Broadcast February 7, 1952.
First US edition, first printing, produced by the leading miniature book maker Achille J. St. Onge; 750 copies were printed, with 650 copies bound in blue and 100 copies in red morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (no priority of issue). This was the copy of Churchill's bibliographer Ronald Cohen. Churchill's address to the nation on the death of the wartime King praised "The simple dignity of his life, his manly virtues, his sense of duty". He noted "the constitutional monarchy is the most deeply founded and dearly cherished by the whole association of our peoples", and looked forward to the reign of Queen Elizabeth: "I, whose youth was passed in the august, unchallenged and tranquil glories of the Victorian era, may well feel a thrill in invoking once more the prayer and the anthem, 'God save the Queen!'". The speech was also published in the UK by The Times Publishing Company the same year. Churchill gave special permission to Achille J. St. Onge to print the book - St. Onge produced 48 miniature books from 1935 to 1977, which were esteemed for their elegant design and remain much sought after by collectors. A book he produced on Robert Hutchings Goddard was taken on Apollo 11 as the first book on the moon. Provenance: Ronald Cohen, with his ownership signature in pencil on the initial blank. Cohen's Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill, published in three volumes in 2006, is the authoritative source for collectors, librarians, and dealers. Cohen A262.2b; Woods A135b. Miniature (60 x 41 mm). Original blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, front cover lettered in gilt, front cover with monogram and arms of George VI, rear cover with floral device, floral-patterned endpapers, gilt edges. A fine copy. You Only Live Twice.
First edition, first impression, first state; the last Bond book published during the lifetime of Fleming, who died later that year. Based on Japanese material which Fleming gathered during his five-week foreign jaunt for the Sunday Times, the novel is titled after a poem by Bash : "You only live twice: Once when you are born, And once when you look death in the face" (p. 7). This copy is in the first state, with "First Published 1964" rather than "First Published March 1964" on the copyright page. The film adaptation was released three years later, starring Sean Connery and with the screenplay written by Roald Dahl. Gilbert A12a (1.1). Octavo. Original black boards (Gilbert's binding A), spine lettered in silver, Japanese lettering on front cover in gilt, patterned endpapers. With dust jacket. Bright jacket with one or two edge nicks, small mark on rear flap, unclipped: a near-fine copy in like jacket. Panoramic photograph of San Francisco earthquake and fire.
An early printed panoramic photograph of San Francisco ablaze during the fire that swept the city following the 1906 earthquake, curiously produced by the Dunlop rubber company, with "Compliments of the Dunlop Rubber Co. of Aus. Ltd" at bottom left. With the photograph showing their building safe and sound while the rest of the city burns, it is possible the implication is the resilience of their products. The original photograph was taken on the 18th April, the day of the earthquake, and was captured from the St Francis Hotel by Arthur Clarence Pillsbury (1870-1946). Pillsbury had worked for the San Francisco Examiner as a photojournalist from 1903 to March 1906, and, though at the time of the earthquake he had left to establish the Pillsbury Picture Company in Oakland, he still had his press pass. Using this pass and his personal contacts with policeman, Pillsbury was able to access parts of the city which were off limits to civilians while the authorities tried to control the blaze, resulting in unparalleled documentary evidence - and particularly arresting shots - of the destruction. Pillsbury is also remembered for his landscapes of Yosemite National Park, and his pioneering time lapse photographs of flowers. The panorama was sold by the photographer's Pillsbury Picture Company, who advertised it as the only panorama of burning San Francisco. The panorama was part of over 300 photographs of the earthquake and fire which the company were offering for sale within a month (see, for example, their advertisement in Camera Craft, vol. XII, May 1906, preceding p. 150). In this example the photograph has been edited, so that the Dunlop building has their name and slogan on the side - Dunlop presumably commissioned an edited form of the panorama from Pillsbury in the aftermath of the general issue, for use as promotion. The original photograph is displayed on the Library of Congress website (item 2007660561). Panoramic photograph, printed in colour (added to original photograph in production), in original dark grey card mount, 88 cm x 22 cm. In dark brown oak frame with conservation acrylic glazing, 92 x 26 cm. Mount a little worn at edges, a few trivial scratches to image; in good condition. Cold Comfort Farm.
First edition, first impression. This is the literary work which introduced the phrase "something nasty in the woodshed" to the English language. Early readers of the novel suggested that Stella Gibbons might be a pseudonym for Evelyn Waugh. Certainly a contemporary review in the Times Literary Supplement identified "a wicked and witty pen" at work. The book was an instant success and has never been out of print. There have been numerous radio, television and stage adaptations of the novel. A 1968 BBC television serial starred Alastair Sim, Fay Compton and Brian Blessed. In 1995 a new adaptation for television was also shown in cinemas and featured Kate Beckinsale, Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen, Eileen Atkins and Stephen Fry. A stage play, adapted by Paul Doust, dates from the early 1990s and a musical version by Alaric T. Barrie was first produced in 1996. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, spine lettered and decorated gilt, raised bands, twin rule to turn-ins gilt, blue and green patterned endpapers, gilt edges. Minimal spotting to prelims otherwise a fine copy. The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
First edition, first impression, of this children's classic. The book was adapted by Disney into the animated film of 1961, and the live-action remake of 1996. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in white morocco, with black onlay patches (imitating a Dalmatian's colouring), titles to spine gilt, black endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in a black cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. Illustrated throughout by Janet and Anne Grahame-Johnstone. A fine copy. Die Freundinnen.
Edition of 500. One of 30 prints from the Eine Nachlese portfolio. "Die Freundennen" was one of 16 original paintings by Klimt which were destroyed on 8 May 1945. The paintings were in storage in the Schloss Immendorf, a 16th-century castle in Lower Austria, which was set on fire by a retreating tank division of the German army. Max Eisler (1881-1937), the publisher of this print, was an art historian at Vienna University who published the first Klimt monograph in 1914. He intended Eine Nachlese to complement Das Werk, the only folio set produced in Klimt's lifetime, overseen by Klimt up to 1913. Fragile hand-printed collotype plates can not be reused, so the run must be completed on the first go and in only a limited number. The complicated, lengthy process involves gelatin colloids mixed with dichromates. Thin 16-colour separation glass filters achieve the light-sensitive internegative images, which capture the original tonal gradations. These are exposed to actinic light. Finally, the delicate chine colle paper allows for greater colour saturation. Collotype in colours on chine colle paper laid down on heavy cream wove paper with untrimmed deckled edges. Image size: 29.5 x 30 cm. Sheet size: 48 x 45.5 cm. Framed size: 59 x 56.3 cm. Excellent condition. Presented in a handmade gold leaf frame with conservation acrylic glazing. The Path to Power.
Signed Easton Press edition, number 343 of 3,000 copies signed by Margaret Thatcher as issued. The Path to Power, Thatcher's autobiography of her childhood years to her election as prime minister, was published by Harper Collins in a trade edition, with this collector's edition published the same year. Octavo. Original blue bonded leather, spine lettered in gilt, covers panelled in gilt, pink silk endpapers, gilt edges, yellow silk bookmarker. A fine copy. The Witches. Illustrations by Quentin Blake.
First edition, first impression. Winner of the Whitbread Award for Children's Novel in 1983, the book was adapted into a stage play and a two-part radio dramatization for the BBC, a 1990 movie directed by Nicolas Roeg which starred Anjelica Huston and Rowan Atkinson, and an opera by Marcus Paus and Ole Paus. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in bright blue morocco, titles to spine and front board onlaid in pale blue morocco and blocked in black, pictorial onlay wrapped around front and back board after the original dust jacket, twin rule to turn-ins in black, plain blue endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in a bright blue flat-back cloth box. With black and white illustrations. A fine copy. War Horse.
First edition, first impression. Most copies of the first edition of War Horse went to school libraries and the book is now correspondingly scarce in commerce in collectable condition. The author's celebrated novel was adapted into a hugely successful play in 2007, and was the basis of the 2011 Steven Spielberg film of the same title. Octavo. Original laminated pictorial boards, titles to front board and spine in red and black. No dust jacket issued. Cover design by Victor Ambrus. Spine ends a touch bumped, as often, the binding otherwise sharp, faint spotting to top edge, else internally crisp; a near-fine, unmarked copy. The Second World War.
First UK editions, first impressions, very handsomely bound for the luxury purveyors Asprey. Churchill's masterpiece is the single most important historical account of the Second World War, and a major factor in Churchill 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 UK editions as definitive and reserved his final proof corrections for them. Cohen A240.4; Woods A123(b). 6 volumes, octavo (205 x 132 mm). Late 20th-century red morocco for Asprey, spines lettered in gilt, gilt rule to compartments, covers, and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Maps and diagrams, some folding. A fine set. Neuromancer.
First hardback edition, first impression, signed by the author on the title page. An iconic cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer won the science fiction "triple crown": the Nebula, Hugo, and Philip K. Dick Awards. It is a landmark in modern science fiction writing and its cultural impact is still widely felt. The Ace paperback edition was issued earlier the same year in America. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Small bump to head of spine; jacket bright, not price-clipped: a fine copy in like jacket. Fifty Years Adrift. Edited, foreword and annotations by George Harrison.
First edition, number 1,743 of a limited edition of 2,000 copies signed by George Harrison, Derek Taylor (the Beatles' publicist), and the illustrator Larry Smith. Fifty Years Adrift is the autobiography of Taylor and is "the companion volume to I Me Mine" (prospectus). "Taylor was many things: an elegant writer who could flip into the crudest, earthiest language; a press officer who would go beyond the call of duty at the same time as he placed advertorial copy in the pop magazines of the time; a Beatle intimate taking remedial acid trips with John Lennon at the same time as he was an employee, if not a servant. He defined and extended what it was to be a PR at the same time as he retained a cool, journalistic eye. In the end, he preserved what was best about the high Sixties for future generations. Taylor had remained close to George Harrison, who contributed addenda to 1984's Fifty Years Adrift, a limited-edition book that expanded the Sixties' coverage of As Time Goes By" (Savage). Jon Savage, "The fifth Beatle, Derek Taylor", GQ. Quarto. Original half calf, red morocco spine label, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, compartments stamped in blind, sides and corners trimmed with single gilt fillet, brown cloth sides, vignette on front cover in red and gilt, rear cover with Derek Taylor's signature stamped in gilt, illustrated endpapers from a design by Larry Smith, edges gilt, original red silk ribbon and colour concert ticket bookmark. Housed in the publisher's brown slipcase with paper title label. Colour frontispiece with tissue guard, lavishly illustrated with Beatles memorabilia and half-tones from photographs. Book near fine in fine slipcase. My Early Life. A Roving Commission.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. First Keystone edition, first impression, of Churchill's only volume of sustained autobiography, covering his formative years from his birth in 1874 until his election as MP for Oldham in 1900. My Early Life was first published in 1930. The Keystone series reprinted Butterworth's existing works at cheaper prices. The jacket here is the second state, the rear panel noting "recent additions, Spring, 1935"; the earliest state gives Spring 1934. Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes. Cohen A91.3a. Octavo. Original pink cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Photographic frontispiece and 15 plates of which 12 from photographs, folding map, 8 maps and 2 plans to the text. Lyall Book Depot bookseller's stamp to front free endpaper. Wear to upper outer corner of front cover, edges and contents a little spotted; unclipped jacket a little soiled and worn with tape reinforcement on verso. A very good copy in good jacket.- $390
- $390
The Waves.
WOOLF, Virginia. First edition, first impression, of the author's most ambitious and experimental novel, hailed by Cyril Connolly as her "masterpiece. It is one of the books which comes nearest to stating the mystery of life and so, in a sense, nearest to solving it" (Connolly, p. 49). The text is woven from the interior voices of its six protagonists, who were in part modelled on E. M. Forster, Lytton Strachey, T. S. Eliot, Mary Hutchison, Vanessa Bell, and Woolf herself, revealing their respective loves and loneliness. Kirkpatrick A16a; Woolmer 279. Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise, 2008. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, titles and decoration to spine gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards gilt, inner dentelles gilt, burgundy coated endpapers, all edges gilt. A fine copy.- $2,603
- $2,603
Jacob’s Room.
WOOLF, Virginia. First edition, first impression. Jacob's Room, Woolf's third novel, was the first full-length book to be published by the Hogarth Press, and marked the point from which the Woolfs decided to run the Press as a genuine business concern. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, spine lettered and decorated gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards gilt, inner dentelles gilt, burgundy endpapers, gilt edges. Light foxing to prelims and endmatter. Otherwise a fine copy.- $3,254
- $3,254
The Crying of the Wind: Ireland.
COLQUHOUN, Ithell. First edition, first impression, of the author's debut, signed by her on the title page. Ireland's folklore and mythology inspired Colquhoun's art, writing, and mystic pursuits; this book comprises sketches of the landscape and people that she loved dearly. Colquhoun (1906-1988) was a celebrated artist and occultist who was expelled from the English Surrealist Group for refusing to abandon her occult research. Recent years have seen a resurgence in critical interest in her work, and she "is becoming recognized as one of the most interesting and prolific esoteric thinkers and artists of the twentieth century" (Hale). Colquhoun had Irish heritage and was fascinated with Celtic tradition and literature. She visited Ireland on multiple occasions, including attending the Yeats Summer School in Sligo at least five times. Amy Hale, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of The Fern Loved Gully, 2020. Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With illustrated dust jacket by Colquhoun. Frontispiece, 2 photographic plates, and line drawings after illustrations by the author in the text. Spine lightly sunned, edges rubbed, text block a little foxed; unclipped jacket rubbed and nicked, slight loss to ends of spine panel, corners chipped: a very good copy in like jacket.- $2,603
- $2,603
Typed letter signed, to Lord Birkenhead opposing the revision of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. A very lengthy and unpublished letter from Churchill to his close ally, planning united action to prevent changes to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty that they together negotiated and signed. Frederick Edwin "F.E." Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872-1930), was one of Churchill's closest political friends. He was a member of the House of Lords, had served as Attorney General and Lord High Chancellor, and was soon to serve as Secretary of State for India. Both Birkenhead and Churchill (as Lord Chancellor and Colonial Secretary respectively) played a crucial role in the drafting of the Treaty, which allowed the formation of the Irish Free State as a Dominion within the British Empire under the Crown. Churchill's letter relates to the interpretation of Clause XII, a point of contention then flaring up. Clause XII provided that a boundary commission could be established to alter the boundaries between the Free State and Ulster. The Free State was pushing for a commission, but Ulster was refusing to appoint a commissioner and consequently blocked the process. The Free State was demanding the alteration of the treaty to allow the British government to override or coerce Ulster on this point. Churchill rigidly opposes these demands in his letter, which he heads "secret and personal", and opens "Like you, I am deeply troubled about this Irish business". He writes that the British Parliament would not have passed the treaty if it had contained such a clause, which "would have constituted a perfectly definite and unmistakable overriding and 'coercion' of Ulster. On this point we have made public pledges. again and again every member of the Government declared there would be no coercion". For Churchill, to amend Clause XII would open the way for much further revision of the treaty and risk the settlement. Moreover, Churchill asserts that Britain had faithfully followed the treaty, unlike the Free State. "Nothing could be more grudging than their treatment of the Crown, their association with the Empire and their attitude towards the Union Jack". Indeed, he writes there are many indications of the eventual establishment of a republican government. Churchill criticizes the Free State for failing to assume a portion of Britain's war debt and for the recent shooting of British soldiers at Queenstown. "When the broad justice of the issue between the British and Free State Government is considered, I am sure no reproach could be made against us and serious reproach against the other party". Churchill desires both himself and Birkenhead to publicly state their position at the time of their drafting of Clause XII. Churchill's trump card is a letter Birkenhead then sent to Prime Minister Balfour. "This places on record with the utmost clearness what we really meant. I consider that we are bound, and more than anyone the signatories of the Treaty are bound, to give full and loyal effect to what we meant". The spirit of the treaty and clause was that Ulster would not be coerced. Moreover their desire at the time was that Ulster should not "in any circumstances undergo such mutilation, amputation and excision as would effectively rupture its essential integrity and unity". There was the prospect of a general election that winter, and Churchill feared the treaty would become a leading issue. Churchill is adamant he would maintain his stand irrespective of the Conservative Party's position, and could not support the revision of the treaty: "If I did not feel myself honourably and conscientiously able to adopt the reasoning I have set out here, or if you convince me that it is not sound and fair, I should simply stand aside at the election and remain in private life for some years longer without seeking to re-enter Parliament". Churchill encloses a letter he received from James Craig, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, 21 August 1924. Churchill had passed Craig the letter which Birkenhead sent to Balfour. Craig hopes Birkenhead's letter could be published, "as it should clear the air, and break it to those in Southern Ireland who have so long been sedulously coached to believe that large areas were involved, that only boundary rectification was intended". A transcript of both letters is available on request. Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes. 8 pages quarto (254 x 204 mm) headed Chartwell Manor, c. 1,750 words typed recto only, with 40 words postscript in Churchill's hand offering his commiseration for a bereavement and signed by him "W"; enclosing a letter from James Craig, one page folio (330 x 203 mm) on Stormont Castle letterhead, 21 August 1924, c. 200 words typed recto only. Housed in black chemises within quarter morocco slipcase, red morocco label to spine and front panel. Light creases as folded, extremities a little browned and creased, paperclip impression and rusting at head. In very good condition.- $19,524
- $19,524
The Rudiments of Genteel Behavior.
NIVELON, Francois. First edition of this scarce and influential manual "offering visual and verbal instruction on how to walk, stand, and present oneself for the minuet. Its engraved illustrations confirm that by that time graceful movements had become rigidly codified into prescriptive, static poses" (Meyer, p. 53). Among the illustrations is the hand-in-waistcoat gesture, which later became a signature stance of Napoleon. The work is divided into two sections: six plates and accompanying textual descriptions for ladies, and a further six for gentlemen. "The Rudiments of Genteel Behavior soon became a source for other works. Art historians have traced its use in the poses of figures within 18th-century conversation pieces and portraits" (Goff, p. 75), and the plates were reproduced in conduct manuals such as Matthew Towle's The Young Gentleman and Lady's Private Tutor (1770). James William Dodd, an actor of David Garrick's company, is known to have owned a copy. More recently, the work was displayed at the 2021 exhibition In Sparkling Company: Glass and the Costs of Social Life in Britain During the 1700s by the Corning Museum of Glass. The French dance master Francois Nivelon (fl.1723-1739), who was highly successful on the London circuit, published this work shortly before establishing a dancing school in Stamford, Lincolnshire. Though the title page is dated 1737, it was actually issued the following year; the delays were due to Nivelon's dissatisfaction with the engravings done by Hubert-François Gravelot, who was soon replaced by Louis Philippe Boitard. On 17 February 1755, the Public Advertiser noted an apparent second edition; however, no copies are extant, and it is likelier that this was in fact a reissue of the first edition. A small-format version, somewhat crudely engraved and newly depicting the figures in the latest fashion, was published in 1762 as The Polite Academy or School of Behaviour for Young Gentlemen and Ladies. Two copies of this work have appeared at auction, in 1984 and 1979. 10 copies have been traced institutionally in the UK, WorldCat bringing the total to 20 copies worldwide. ESTC T113093; Newberry Courtesy Books 1049. Moira Goff, "The Adroit and the Elegant Monsieur Nivelon", Dancing Master or Hop Merchant?: The Role of the Dance Teacher through the Ages, ed. by Barbara Segal, 2008; Arline Meyer, "Re-dressing Classical Statuary: The Eighteenth-Century 'Hand-in-Waistcoat' Portrait", Art Bulletin, vol. 77, no. 1, March 1995. Quarto (271 x 191 mm). Original sprinkled calf, neatly rebacked to style with floral device in compartments, red morocco label on front cover, floral gilt roll bordering covers, faint gilt roll on board edges. Copper-engraved cartouche title page and 12 engraved copper plates by Louis Philippe Boitard after Bartolomew Dandridge. Woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces in the text. Contemporary ownership inscription "Abe. Hay" on first blank, another early hand striking it through; front pastedown with bookplate of William Forbes Morgan Sr (1841-1916) noted American sportsman or Jr (1879-1937), engraved by William Phillips Barrett (1861-1938) of Bumpus in 1911, after a design by Robert Osmond (1874-1959). Slightly rubbed, with craquelure from the sprinkling, wear to extremities, reinforced inner hinges with slight splits, remaining sound, original front free endpaper reinserted, paper repair at fore margin of title page, foxing and offsetting from plates. A very good copy.- $5,207
- $5,207
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. First editions, first impressions. Churchill's great history met with acclaim and proved an international best-seller, further vindicating his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. A masterpiece of readable, popular history, it remains in print today. Churchill began his history during his period in the political wilderness in the early 1930s but did not complete it until the latter half of the 1950s, after his final retirement as prime minister. He presented a single intertwined narrative of the histories of Britain, the United States, and the Empire's dominions. It was history as manifesto, setting out a vision of the English-speaking nations as bound by a common history and purpose; through stressing their shared heritage and destiny, Churchill, by birth half English and half American, believed he could cement the bonds between them. He consequently gave considerable attention to the key events of American history, especially the War of Independence and the Civil War. Cohen A267.1(I)-(IV). 4 volumes, octavo. Original red cloth, spines lettered in gilt, top edges red. With dust jackets. Illustrated with maps and genealogical tables. Short closed tear to front fold of vol. I, a hint of rubbing, sunning, and soiling to unclipped jackets but still unusually fresh. A fine set in near-fine jackets.- $976
- $976
Architect’s plans for the Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik in Krakow.
SCHINDLER, Oskar. A remarkable survival: the original architectural plans to expand Schindler's metal-stamping factory, so as to greatly increase the number of Jewish workers who could be sheltered and saved from the Holocaust. In spring 1943, Schindler contracted with Siemens-Bauunion to construct an extension to his factory. This new hangar-style stamping facility was to be the largest building in the complex and the centrepiece of the works. The expansion was part of Schindler's scheme to increase the size of his Jewish workforce on the site and consequently to protect them from the Nazis. These plans were produced by Siemens-Baaunion and set out the expansion. The schematics show elevations of the exterior walls, together with the foundations, and aspects of the internal structures. Schindler simultaneously built accommodation blocks to house and protect the Jews who were to work in the extension. Ultimately, the extended factory and accommodation sheltered over one thousand Jewish workers. The workers were provided by the commandant of the Kraków-P aszów camp Amon Göth and the SS, who deemed Schindler merely another war profiteer willing to use slave labour. While those detained in the Kraków-P aszów camp were in constant fear for their lives under Göth's sadistic reign, Schindler's complex offered a relatively safe haven, where they had improved access to food and medicine and could worship freely. A number of plans were produced by Siemens-Baaunion covering various parts of the proposed building project, but this is the most detailed and comprehensive example we are aware of. Large single-sheet (270 x 445 mm) dye-line print, Siemens office ink stamp lower right, endorsed in an unknown hand, together with the stamp of the Krakow Archive of Urban Construction Plans, accession details blank. Creases from old storage folds and a few small chips and tears at the lower left, no loss of image: very good.- $5,857
- $5,857
Frederick Edwin Earl of Birkenhead: The First Phase. By his son.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. (foreword) - BIRKENHEAD, Frederick Winston Furneaux Smith, Earl of. First edition, first impression, of this filial biography of the Conservative statesman, one of the closest personal and political friends of Winston Churchill, who contributes an adulatory foreword, and advised on the book. Provenance: ownership signature and bookplate of Clementine Waring (1879-1964), eldest daughter of the Marquess of Tweedale, and wife of Walter Waring, Liberal MP for Banff; the collection of Steve Forbes. Cohen B51. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Unclipped jacket with slight sunning and rubbing, very minor chipping at extremities, slit to rear panel: a fine copy in very good jacket.- $260
- $260
The Jungle Book.
KIPLING, Rudyard. First edition, first impression. Based on folk tales and legends that Kipling learned during his childhood in India, The Jungle Book was first published in periodicals in 1893-4, before it was printed in book form in 1894. An immediate success on publication, the book was reprinted twice the same year, and twice again in 1895. Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907; he was the first English-language writer, and the youngest ever, to receive the prize. The present book, and its sequel The Second Jungle Book (1895), were loosely adapted into the 1967 and 2016 Disney movies of the same name. Grolier Children's 100, 52. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, spine lettered and decorated gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards gilt, pictorial block to front board gilt, twin rule to turn-ins gilt, dark green endpapers, gilt edges. Illustrated by J. L. Kipling, W. H. Drake, P. Frenzeny. Light foxing throughout, an excellent copy in a fine binding.- $4,556
- $4,556
