[CHURCHILL, THE RT. HON. WINSTON S.]. Great Contemporaries. London: Thornton Butterworth Ltd., 1937.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION; cloth-bound, hardcover with dust jacket, octavo (22cm x 14.5cm x 4m), pp. 335. English text, with illustrations throughout. Bound in publisher's original blue cloth with gilt lettering on the spine, top edge tinted blue, initial and terminal blanks, half title, 21 photographic illustrations, complete first issue dust jacket. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight, secure and square. Covers and contents very well-preserved. Dust jacket with small closed tear to bottom front edge, else excellent. Without previous ownership markings. A stunning copy and scarce thus.
Notes: Churchill's highly entertaining collection of twenty-one political and literary profiles, beautifully written, brutally opinionated (Hitler comes off just a bit better than George Bernard Shaw). Written in the decade before Churchill became prime minister, the essays in Great Contemporaries focus on the challenges of statecraft at a time when the democratic revolution was toppling older regimes based on tradition and aristocratic privilege. A handsome copy in the scarce jacket. [Refs: Woods A43(a); Cohen A105.1.a].
