Churchill, Winston | The Unknown War, inscribed to W.H. Thompson

Churchill, Winston

The Unknown War. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931

8vo. Publisher's maroon gilt-lettered cloth; spine and edges sunned, a few light marks.

Presentation copy, inscribed: "To W.H. Thompson from Winston S. Churchill."

This copy was inscribed towards the end of Churchill's successful lecture tour of the United States between December 1931 and March 1932, undertaken to recoup some of the financial losses he had suffered as a result of the Wall Street Crash.

The World Crisis was originally published in six volumes between 1923 and 1931, The Unknown War being the sixth. When pitching this final volume to his publisher, Churchill wrote: "In the previous volumes of The World Crisis I have described only in a few pages the course of events in the Eastern theatre. They have merely been the background of our main drama of the war. But now I think I might write a volume called 'The Eastern Front', which would be separate from but supplementary to our five volume history."

W.H. Thompson was Churchill's bodyguard between 1921 and 1935 and 1939 and 1945. He is known for saving Churchill's life on several occasions. Thompson travelled over 200,000 miles with Churchill, including during the U.S. lecture tour. When he retired he published his memoirs, I was Churchill's Shadow, in 1951. This garnered him international renown for his work protecting the former Prime Minister.

PROVENANCE:

W.H. Thompson (presentation inscription) — Replica Shoes 's London, 12 December 2002, Lot 88