[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, The Second World War, and others] Cassell company archive relating to his publications. 1930s-1990, but chiefly 1944-65.

CHURCHILL, [Sir] Winston Spencer (1874-1965).

London: Macmillan and Co., 1942. [Political and Military History] Publishing Churchill at the peak of his literary fame. An extensive archive of papers retained by Churchill's primary post-war UK publishers, Cassell, shedding considerable light on the evolving texts of Churchill's books, Cassell's publishing decisions, international wrangling over rights, and the often-frustrating nature of working with Churchill. The archive, which chiefly covers A History of the English-Speaking Peoples and the Second World War memoirs, records the genesis and crafting of Churchill's books, their printing and binding, the agreement of royalties and rights, and working with international publishers and translators to bring them to an international market. Letters sent to Churchill and his agents were preserved in carbon copy and filed in the archive, the majority of which were initialled by Desmond Flower, director of Cassell. Some have manuscript additions and notes for internal use. Also filed were the letters received from Churchill's agents and other individuals outside the firm, including other publishers and newspapers. Internal memos contain considerable detail about print runs, costs, and deadlines. A highlight is a contract initialled four times by Churchill (2 January 1950), giving him greater control of the serial rights of the History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Churchill had signed the first contracts in the 1930s, which gave full serial rights to the newspaper conglomerate Amalgamated Press. As Churchill resumed the work after the war, his much-enlarged status allowed him to claw back some of these rights. Alongside this, the archive includes several copies of contracts between foreign and serial publishers selling rights to the History of the English-Speaking Peoples, as well as associated correspondence specifying royalty rates and settling disputes. The many international publishers involved, and titles being abridged and excerpted, resulted in crossed wires and legal challenges. Emery Reves, Churchill's agent for foreign editions and translations, writes many times expressing concern as to the legality of their editions, as he claimed his own international publication rights. The collection demonstrates the range of editions of Churchill's texts published by Cassell or licensed by them - from abridgements and excerpts, to new editions either cheaply sold by the Reprint Society or leather-bound deluxe versions by Heron Books and the Franklin Library. Other possible editions are raised and quashed, including regrettably a signed limited edition of The Second World War blocked by Churchill. A planned collection of Churchill's articles is dropped due to rights disputes. Circa 300 items, predominantly the publisher's retained carbon copies of letters (the majority initialled by author), also including typed letters and autograph letters signed from a range of recipients, copies of book contracts (one initialled by Churchill, see note), internal memorandums and notes, cables, and proof sheets. Occasional documents with some tears and loss, generally in very good condition. Throughout their partnership with Churchill, Cassell often requested cuts and rewrites. They successfully push for the first volume of The Second World War to be renamed from The Downward Path to The Gathering Storm. Similarly, the correspondence illustrates Churchill's particularness about his publications. The publishers delivered proof sheets of the book to Churchill (some of which are preserved here), and he requested wider margins and complained about the type design. Cassell pushed back - post-war paper restrictions meant they denied his request for larger type and blocked his plan to publish the war memoirs in 12 volumes. Beyond citing market conditions, Flower used his own authority as a publisher to rebut Churchill's wish to use Garamond rather than Bembo type. Churchill was clearly difficult to work with. Especially for the Second World War, he sought corrections right up to the last minute. As the book was going to print, he was especially unhappy with the many errors he thought had slipped in - the publishers sent their apologies and made excuses while refusing to halt production to bring in the changes. Some of the private internal correspondence indicates the publisher's occasional frustration with dealing with their star writer. Yet despite their wranglings, the partnership was very successful. The Second World War and History of the English-Speaking Peoples were two of the largest publishing projects of the 20th century, led to Churchill's award of the Nobel Peace Prize, and made both Churchill and Cassell a tremendous amount of money. As the publishers wrote to Churchill on 18 March 1954 "You have given Cassell the most monumental work it has ever published in its long life. It is impossible to express in words what we all feel about this, for you have added the grandest page to our history". The Blitz destroyed almost all Cassell's papers from before the war, so the archive has little from before this date except a few 1930s contracts. The collection mostly ends with Churchill's death in 1965, but a few later letters on posthumous publishing rights are present, and it concludes in 1990 with a claim by Churchill's estate that rights had now reverted from Cassell to them. Cassell was bought by publishing conglomerates and restructured in the 1990s. When their offices were closed down a huge quantity of papers were sold and discarded. This collection was purchased at the time and has since been in private hands. It is unknown whether any other Churchill material was separated at the time and survives, but the recollection of those involved is that most of Cassell's material went in the skip. The archive represents an important untouched research area - the overwhelming majority of the papers are not published. Item #69976

Offered in partnership with Peter Harrington, London.

Price: £37,500.00