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THE SECOND WORLD WAR: Abridged One-Volume Edition
With A New Epilogue On The Years 1945 to 1957
1959
First English Abridged Edition
Cassell & Co. [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A240.8.a) (Woods A123ca)
16mo (1,038 pages)
Hardcover (with Dust Jacket) [Black cloth]
Item Number: 19722
Collector's Guide
The Second World War, also known as Winston Churchill’s War Memoirs, won Churchill the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. Published in six volumes that appeared over six years, the books each came out first in the U.S. under the following titles: THE GATHERING STORM (Volume I/1948), THEIR FINEST HOUR (Volume II/1949), THE GRAND ALLIANCE (Volume III/1950), THE HINGE OF FATE (Volume IV/1950), CLOSING THE RING (Volume V/1951) and TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY (Volume VI/1953).
The ensuing English editions, issued within months of the American, contained numerous corrections and even a few additional maps. The English edition is therefore considered more definitive, though today the American edition may be rarer. The set was simultaneously published by the Book-of-the-Month-Club in America, printed on the same presses as the first editions, and thus can easily be confused with them. An excellent one-volume abridgment was published in 1959; largely the work of Churchill’s research assistant, Denis Kelly, though Churchill did contribute an interesting epilogue covering the years 1945-1957.
Description
This is a very good copy of the First English Abridged edition, in an unclipped dust jacket that is virtually mint, with just a hint of light, scattered foxing to the inner edges. The contents are fine, with an inked-out owner name on the second front free endpaper.