[CHURCHILL, WINSTON S.]. The Second World War. London: Cassell and Company. Ltd., 1948-54.
FIRST UK EDITIONS, FIRST IMPRESSIONS; complete in six volumes [volume I: The Gathering Storm; volume II: Their Finest Hour; volume III: The Grand Alliance; volume IV: The Hinge of Fate; volume V:Closing the Ring; volume VI: Triumph and Tragedy], leather-bound, hardcovers, octavos (21 x 13.5 cm), pp. xv, 640; xvii, 684; xvii, 818; xviii, 917; xviii, 673; xviii716. English text. Handsomely rebound in dark blue morocco gilt, original patterned endpapers decorated with a design that alternates a lion rampant with the initials W.S.C., half-titles, illustrated with numerous maps and charts, some folding, each volume with a rear index in double columns. Condition: GOOD to VERY GOOD. Collated compete. Bindings tight and secure. Light fading to spines and upper board of vol. VI. Head of spine of vol. V slightly rubbed. Interiors very well-preserved and without previous ownership markings. An excellent leather-bound set.
Notes: First UK editions, first impressions, of Churchill's wonderful masterpiece, perhaps the single most important historical account of the Second World War. It's publication was 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". The publication date of the UK editions were slightly preceded by the US editions.
