Books

First editions of Churchill's masterpiece, the single most important historical account of the Second World War. 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". A man who had always primarily made his living by his pen, Churchill was the only major war leader to give an authoritative account of the conflict, and his ringing phrases seeped into the collective memory. As J. H. Plumb noted: "Churchill the historian lies at the very heart of all historiography of the Second World War, and will always remain there... [we still] move down the broad avenues which he drove through war's confusion and complexity." Six volumes, octavo. Attractively bound in recent burgundy morocco, titles and decoration to spines gilt, rule to boards gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With diagrams and tables throughout the text. The occasional minor blemish, an excellent set. Cohen A240.4; Woods A123(b).

In this volume, Churchill begins his account of the Second World War, analyzing the lead-up to the conflict, the policy of appeasement, and the events that led to the breakdown of peace.