CHURCHILL, Winston S.

£1,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Advance proof copies of Churchill's great history of Britain, the British Empire, and the United States, retaining the scarce proof jackets - volume one was not issued in one - and with presentation slips/letters from the publisher in the latter three volumes. This set is from the collection of Churchill's bibliographer Ronald Cohen.The proof copies are similar to the eventual published versions. The major differences are that none are indexed, the table of contents of volumes one and four do not give page numbers, the preface in volume one is blank, and some changes are made to the acknowledgements. The publication dates and prices are correctly given on the front wrappers. The jackets are identical to the published versions.In his bibliography, Cohen mentions that David Ascoli, one of the directors of Cassell, distributed proof copies of volume three in May 1957 and volume four in January 1958. Here, volumes two to four have presentation slips/letters from Ascoli (volume two: slip with publication details and "with the compliments of David Ascoli"; volume three: signed letter dated May 1957 ; volume four: signed letter dated 1 January 1958). Ascoli's letter in the fourth volume concludes "let the pigmies [sic] fire their critical darts. This work will endure, long after their shrill little squeaks have died away, a fitting monument to one of the wisest, the most chivalrous and the most honoured sons of all the English-Speaking Peop

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