AUGUST AND “THE FEW”
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
August will always be the month of “The Few,” perhaps Winston Churchill’s most eloquent speech of inspiration, delivered on August 20th 1940 to the House of Commons extolling victory in “The Battle of Britain.”
One can find “The Few” in many different corners of Chartwell Booksellers. The speech turns up in the first volume of a complete set of Churchill’s complete War Speeches, as they were issued in Great Britain year-by-year throughout the war, beginning in 1941 with the book that Churchill himself titled: Into Battle. This volume collected his war speeches from May 1938-November 9, 1940, and thus contained many of Churchill’s most notable oratorical flourishes of the war, including “blood, toil, tears and sweat,” “their finest hour,” and, of course, “The Few.“
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The decisive print iteration of “The Few“ appeared in August 1940, just days after Churchill delivered the speech; issued by His Majesty’s Stationery Office as a smart-looking pamphlet in blue-grey printed wraps: “A SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER The Right Honourable WINSTON CHURCHILL IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS August 20th, 1940.” This pamphlet is much prized by collectors and, because of its delicacy, is increasingly hard to find today in healthy condition. Never in the field of printed Churchilliana are so few pursued by so many.
NEW BOOK RECOMMENDATION OF THE MONTH
MR. CHURCHILL IN THE WHITE HOUSE
The Untold Story of a Prime Minister
and Two Presidents
by Robert Schmuhl
A new look at a wonderful old story: Winston Churchill’s Christmas 1941 White House visit in the wake of Pearl Harbor, and more. An examination of all of Churchill’s White House stays in sum.
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PRECIOUS PRIZE OF THE MONTH
THE WAR SPEECHES
OF THE RT. HON.
WINSTON S. CHURCHILL: “DEFINITIVE EDITION”
The rare American edition.