The Second World War, Churchill, Winston S. Published by Cassell and Co., London, 1948-1954. First Editions. Six volumes complete: The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grand Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring, and Triumph and Tragedy. Vol I 1948 640pp; Vol II 1949 684pp; Vol III 1950 818pp; Vol IV 1951 917pp; Vol V 1952 673pp, Vol VI 1954 716pp., maps, plans, diagrams, appendices, index. Black cloth boards with gilt spine titles, gray monogrammed endpapers; top edge pink. Volumes are in very good to near fine condition without tears or folds; small inked name to fly-leaf and otherwise text block is clean without markings. Binding and boards are secure; light outer edge dusting; pink top edges are faded. Dustjackets are in very good to near fine condition except for Vol IV which has a piece missing from the spine and a small piece missing front top edge; price is clipped on Volume VI; the remaining jackets are unclipped. Dustjacket flaps of Volume II and III state Overseas Edition.
Winston S. Churchill’s The Second World War is universally acknowledged as a magnificent historical reconstruction and an enduring work of literature. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 was awarded to Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values”
From Britain’s darkest and finest hour to the great alliance and ultimate victory, the Second World War remains the most pivotal event of the twentieth century. Winston S. Churchill was not only the war’s greatest leader, he was the free world’s singularly eloquent voice of defiance in the face of Nazi tyranny, and it’s that voice that animates this six-volume history.
