CHURCHILL, Sir Winston. A History of English-Speaking Peoples. London: Educational Book Company Ltd. [1956-58].
For volumes, large 8vo. Original cloth, ruled and lettered in gilt with gilt-stamped lettering-pieces (two with light marginal chipping; bindings a little rubbed; pp. xxviii, 453; xvi, 381; xix, 360; xvi, 352, illustrated with plates and maps; an attractive set; ownership inscriptions to front fly-leaves.
First fully illustrated edition, published near-simultaneously with the Cassell first edition, but in a larger format, on superior paper, with an extensive suite of half-tone plates augmenting the maps and plans of the Cassell edition.
It is comprising The Birth of Britain, The New World, The Age of Revolution and The Great Democracies, Churchill's great work traces the history of Britain and the development of the Commonwealth from Julius Caesar and his invasion of Britain in 55BC up until the end of the Second Boer war at the beginning of the 20th century. He began this mammoth task in 1937, and had submitted half a million words before the outbreak of WWII. Publication was delayed several times in the years that followed, and the books were finally published eleven years after the War ended, during the author's retirement from office. The volumes contain, amongst historical fact, biographical profiles of notable figures including Alfred the Great, Queen Victoria, Joan of Arc and Abraham Lincoln. Ever an advocate of Transatlantic relations, the history of North America is particularly detailed.
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