The World Crisis: The Unknown War
$1,000 · Offered by Biblio
First edition
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is a jacketed copy of the first edition, first printing of the sixth and final book of The World Crisis, Churchill's monumental history of the First World War. A quarter of a century before the Second World War endowed him with lasting fame, Winston Churchill played a uniquely critical, controversial, and varied role in the War to end all wars. Then, being Churchill, he wrote about it. The World Crisis was originally published in six volumes between 1923 and 1931, with the first four volumes spanning the war years 1911-1918 and the fifth dealing with the postwar years 1918-1928 (The Aftermath). In proposing this sixth and final book to his publisher, Churchill wrote: "In the previous volumes of the World Crisis I have described only in a few pages the course of events in the Eastern theatre. They have merely been the background of our main drama of the war. But now I think I might write a volume called 'The Eastern Front' (published as "The Unknown War" in the U.S.), which would be separate from but supplementary to our five volume history." Scribner published 3,870 first printing copies in 1931. First printing dust jackets are now quite scarce and absent the dust jackets the russet cloth bindings proved highly prone to fading and wear. The World Crisis is one of the few Churchill editions for which this, the U.S. edition, is the true first, as initial publication preceded the British. T
- Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
- Year: 1931
- Edition: First Edition
- Printing: first
- Binding: hardcover
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