All Four A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES Spin-Off Volumes

Description

Beginning in 1961, the British and American publishers of Churchill’s A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES each began issuing spin-off volumes that repackaged excerpts from the four-volume work. Some of these books sold well, others didn’t, but it is extremely rare to find a complete group of them in unclipped dust jackets and in first edition. This is one such set, all volumes in handsome condition.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR [1961] (Cohen A272) (Woods A138[b]) reprints from Volume IV Churchill’s biting overview of America’s “War Between the States” complete as a single book, illustrated with a portfolio of photographs by Matthew Brady and others.

THE ISLAND RACE [1964] (Cohen A275) (Woods A138[c]) is a richly illustrated, coffee table-sized, folio abridgement of the complete work, packed with superb full-color plates.

HEROES OF HISTORY [1968] (Cohen A278) (Woods A138[h]) is an interesting volume of extracted personality profiles; thirteen of Churchill’s “favorite characters,” (according to the the publisher), from Kings Alfred and Harold, William the Conqueror, Henry Plantagenet, Thomas Becket, Richard II, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, to Nelson, Wellington, Washington, Lincoln, Robert E. Lee and Queen Victoria. A fourteenth chapter is devoted to Churchill himself, also in his own words.

JOAN OF ARC [1969] (Cohen A279) (Woods A138[j], the final volume, is a sweet little book that extracts from Volume I Churchill’s eloquent thoughts about the French heroine. It was printed only once in the U.S. by Dodd Mead, in a very limited run and is the scarcest of the four today.

All four volumes are here in unclipped dust jackets that exhibit very modest shelfwear and edge-chipping, else fine, including JOAN OF ARC, which is in superb condition, virtually mint. A rare and precious group.