Churchill, Winston | The Second World War, signed

Churchill, Winston 

The Second World War. London: Cassell and Co., 1948-1953

6 volumes, 8vo. Numerous maps, diagrams, and tables throughout. Original black cloth, topstained; topstaining slightly faded. Dust jackets; edges lightly worn, spines of volumes III and V sunned. Housed in three collector's clamshell boxes.

Signed by Churchill to half title of volume V.

Winston Churchill was famously disappointed to discover that the English first edition of Volume I had been printed by Cassell in a 10-point Bembo typeface, rather than the larger 12-point that Churchill had originally approved. This reduction enabled Cassell to print an additional 15,000 copies, but it led to snide remarks from “many of my friends,” according to Churchill, “that they would be happy to read” Volume I “as soon as they could find a magnifying glass.”

REFERENCE:

Woods A123(b)