"Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon. "
— Bertolt Brecht
Winston Churchill | First Editions
1874 - 1965
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS (30 November 1874 - 24 January 1965) was one of those people it is difficult to avoid in the rare book world, simply by dint of the fact that he was amazingly prolific, and had an educated opinion on everything.
As well as being Prime Minister of the UK twice, steering Britain to Victory during the dark days of the Second World War, writing more speeches than the entire Roman Senate, being a serving officer in the army, taking a stint as a war correspondent, being a noted historian, a less noted painter (although the island of Madeira loves him), he received the Nobel Prize for Literature and was also the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the USA.
See below our stock of Winston Churchill First Editions, fine bindings, sets, signed copies, and other collectible material.
Chartwell
Churchill War Rooms
Blenheim Palace
First Journey.
London: William Heinemann, 1964. SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.xiv, 225. With 36 b/w photographic illustrations. Maps printed to end-papers. SIGNED by the author in black ink to half-title, dated 8/11/66. In publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. With original pictorial dust jacket. Top edge red..... More
Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Pamphlet.
London: the friends of T. E. Lawrence, no date [circa 1936]. ORIGINAL PAMPHLET. Single page folded (19 x 11cm), with title to front cover and text inside. Upper left corner heavily browned, otherwise unmarked. Very good. A pamphlet describing the actions required to ensure a memorial to Lawrence be erected..... More
Great Contemporaries.
London: Thornton Butterworth, 1937. [Political biographies] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 16cm), pp.335; [1]. With twenty-one photographic portrait plates. Blue cloth blocked in gilt and blind, top edge tinted blue. A very good copy with owner name to pastedown, a few light marks to covers, spine a little sunned. This..... More
The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill. General Editor: Michael Wolff.
London: Library of Imperial History, no date (1976). [History / Politics] FIRST EDITION. 4 volumes, octavo (25 x 17 x 15cm). Each volume has the publisher's presentation bookplate loosely inserted, noting that this set is number 8 of a limited edition (an uncommon extra). Bound in original quarter dark blue..... More
The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill. The Centenary Edition. General Editor: Michael Wolff.
London: Library of Imperial History, no date [1976]. The Centenary Edition. FIRST EDITIONS in book form. The first collected edition of Churchill's essays and articles. Not available in any other form. 4 volumes in publisher's full vellum with gilt titles to spines, coat of arms in gilt with gilt rule..... More
Ian Hamilton's March. Together with Extracts from the Diary of Lieutenant H. Frankland a Prisoner of War at Pretoria.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900. [Military history] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.xiv; 409; [1], blank; [4], ads; [2], blank; [32], catalogue. Elegantly bound in brown half morocco, raised bands, gilt titles and gilt 'lion rampant' motif to spine, top edge gilt, original cloth spine and upper panel..... More
An Important Collection of Winston Churchill/World War II autographs.
no place, no date. [Autographs] A remarkable autograph album of one Lawrence Biggart containing 95 signatures (1940-48), mostly international statesmen, war leaders, dignitaries and prominent military officials and public servants, plus some contemporary celebrities. Small landscape album (18 x 12cm) in brown crocodile skin-effect leather, comprising 95 autographs on paper..... More
Europe Unite. Speeches 1947 and 1948.
London: Cassell and Company, 1950. [Post-War Speeches] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.xii; 506. Publisher's bright green cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the black, yellow and green dust-jacket, priced at 18s. Pink ink ownership to front pastedown. Boards heavily mould-stained, with a light pink stain bleeding through..... More
The Sinews of Peace. Post-War Speeches.
London: Cassell and Company, 1948. [Post-War Speeches] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15), pp.viii [4], 9-256. Publisher's orange cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket priced at 16s. A little oxidation to gilt on spine; corners slightly bumped. Jacket very slightly sunned to spine, with a little bruising..... More
![War Speeches 1938-1945]: Into Battle; The Unrelenting Struggle; The End of the Beginning; Onwards...](/pictures/thumb/53316.jpg?v=1584533239)
[War Speeches 1938-1945]: Into Battle; The Unrelenting Struggle; The End of the Beginning; Onwards to Victory; The Dawn of Liberation; Victory; Secret Session Speeches. Compiled by Randolph S. Churchill.
London: Cassell and Company, 1941-46. [History] COMPLETE WAR SPEECHES IN FIRST EDITION, smartly bound. Seven volumes bound as six (Victory and Secret Sessions bound together). Octavo (22 x 14 x 19cm). Includes several half-tone plates. Recent dark green half morocco, with gilt titles and gilt lion motifs to spines, raised..... More
![War Speeches 1938-1945]: Into Battle; The Unrelenting Struggle; The End of the Beginning; Onwards...](/pictures/thumb/56944.jpg?v=1593535204)
[War Speeches 1938-1945]: Into Battle; The Unrelenting Struggle; The End of the Beginning; Onwards to Victory; The Dawn of Liberation; Victory; Secret Session Speeches. Compiled by Randolph S. Churchill.
London: Cassell and Company, 1941-6. [History / Politics] COMPLETE WAR SPEECHES IN FIRST EDITION. Seven volumes, octavo (22 x 15 x 19cm). Includes several half-tone plates. In publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spines. All in original colour dust-jackets. Some spotting to wartime paper, no inscriptions, jackets with some..... More
Post-War Speeches, 1945-1959. The Sinews of Peace; Europe Unite; In the Balance; Stemming the Tide; The Unwritten Alliance.
London: Cassell and Company, 1948-61. [Politics] FIRST EDITIONS. Five volumes, octavo (23 x 15 x 18cm). Publisher's cloth, gilt titles to spine, typographic dust-jackets. One discreet inscription, two jackets price-clipped. Some light spotting/toning, jackets clean and fresh, with shallow loss to crown of 'Sinews', otherwise particularly fresh examples. 'Tide' is..... More
The Dawn of Liberation. War Speeches by the Right Hon. Winston S. Churchill C.H., M.P. 1944.
London: Cassell and Company, 1945. [World War II] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.xi; [1]; 327; [1]. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, in typographic dust-jacket priced at 12/6. Illustrated with three half-tone plates. Top edge dusty, some spotting, jacket with a fingernail scuff to spine, some light..... More
Victory. War Speeches by the Right Hon. Winston S. Churchill C.H., M.P. 1945.
London: Cassell and Company, 1946. [World War II] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.x; 239; [1], blank. Illustrated with half-tone plates. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, in typographic dust-jacket priced at 12/6. Edges dusty, jacket with some rubbing and edge tears. No inscriptions, very good. The penultimate..... More
Painting as a Pastime.
Delray Beach, FL: Levenger Press, 2002. [Painting] FIRST EDITION THUS. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.49; [3]. Publisher's dark blue faux lather binding, gilt titles to spine and upper with an illustration laid onto the upper board. Lightly handled to the binding. Near fine. An attractive reissue of Churchill's slim volume..... More
Arms and the Covenant. Speeches on Foreign Affairs and National Defence. Compiled by Randolph S. Churchill.
George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd, 1938. FIRST EDITION, EARLIEST STATE. 8vo., pps 466. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine in pale blue dustwrapper. This copy is a Colonial issue, sold by A.H.Spencer of Melbourne and with UK price clipped from jacket, Australian label applied to spine. A...... More
The Atlantic Charter, and the Prime Minister's Statement on Basic English of March 9, 1944; in their original form, and in Basic English, for purposes of Comparison. Presented by the Prime Minister to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, March 1944.
London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1944. Pamphlet, 153 x 246mm. Government Document. 5 pages, stapled at spine. In near fine condition. More
The Atlantic Charter, and the Prime Minister's Statement on Basic English of March 9, 1944; in their original form, and in Basic English, for purposes of Comparison. Presented by the Prime Minister to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, March 1944.
London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1944. Pamphlet, 153 x 246mm. Government Document. 5 pages, stapled at spine. In near fine condition. More
The British Gazette.
[London]: His Majesty's Stationery Office, May 5 - May 13, 1926. Newspapers, 8 issues, (60 x 48cm). A complete set of the British Gazette newspaper. Housed in a brown leather-spined clamshell box with cloth sides, gilt titles and raised bands (34 x 27cm). All in very good condition, folded, with..... More
Christmas Greetings card.
London and Tunbridge Wells: Printed by Photocrom, n.d. [circa 1945]. Card-backed cut-out photographic print of Winston Churchill, with "The Prime Minister Faces Facts and Gives Facts", printed on the front. Sent out as a greetings card by A. Cohen and Co. of Great Dover Street, London with the text reading..... More
contributes 'A Message of Good Cheer' to 'The Listener'.
London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 14th May, 1942. ORIGINAL MAGAZINE PRINTING of this speech, broadcast on Churchill's second anniversary as Prime Minister (May 10th). Subsequently collected in 'The End of the Beginning' volume of war speeches, but under the new title 'Prime Minister for Two Years'. Magazine/Newspaper format, stapled at spine..... More
![The Great War [The World Crisis]. Winston Spencer CHURCHILL, Sir](/pictures/thumb/54174.jpg?v=1588004824)
The Great War [The World Crisis].
London: George Newnes, 1933-34. [History] FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM. Preceded by the 26 serial magazine parts, constituting the first illustrated edition of Churchill's 'The World Crisis', with a brand new foreword by the author. In three volumes. Quarto (25 x 18 x 14cm), pp.iv; 512; iv; 513-1024; iv; 1025-1668..... More
The Great War. Fully Illustrated with Photographs, Drawings and Maps. In 26 Original Parts, [The World Crisis].
London: George Newnes, 1933. [Great War] First illustrated edition of the World Crisis with a new forward by Churchill. The 26 original fortnightly parts. Generally in excellent condition, with some occasional rubbing and fraying, fragile paper spines with some wear as expected, though light. The magazines are contained in an..... More
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
London: Educational Book Company, 1956-58. [History] First Illustrated Edition, the Chartwell Edition. Complete in four volumes. Octavo (25 x 17 x 16cm). Each volume with several suites of double-sided black and white photographic plates. Publisher's blue buckram with gilt stamped boards, red leather title labels and gilt decoration to spines;..... More
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
London: Cassell and Company, 1956-58. [English History] HANDSOMELY BOUND FIRST EDITIONS. Four volumes, octavo (25 x 17 x 15cm), pp.[2] xxii; 416; pp.[2] xii; 344 [2]; pp.[2] xii; 332 [6]; pp.[2] xii; 322. With occasional in-text maps and plans. In recent green half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to..... More