69 “Every Act, Whether Of War Or Administration, Is Intended To Be Final” 78CHURCHILL, Winston. The River War, An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan. London, 1899. Two volumes. Thick octavo, original navy cloth. $11,500 First edition, first printing, of Churchill’s rare second book, one of only 2000 copies printed, in original cloth. Churchill “turned up in the Abbasya barracks in Cairo on August 2, 1898, and joined the 21st’s A Squadron. He was fully outfitted, had bought a horse, and was, most important of all, equipped with a commission from the Morning Post to send dispatches at £15 a time” (Keegan, 46). “Far from accepting uncritically the superiority of British civilization, Churchill shows his appreciation for the longing for liberty among the indigenous inhabitants of the Sudan; but he finds their native regime defective in its inadequate legal and customary protection for the liberty of subjects. On the other hand, he criticizes the British army, and in particular its commander Lord Kitchener, for departing in its campaign from the kind of civilized respect for the liberty and humanity of adversaries that alone could justify British civilization and imperial rule over the Sudan” (Langworth, 27). Second state, with the final quotation mark on page 459 of Volume II. Without original dust jackets, so rare as to be unobtainable. Text and plates clean. Inner paper hinges expertly reinforced, light edge-wear to front free endpaper of Volume II. Cloth clean and fresh, gilt bright, near-fine and quite lovely. Complete 12-Volume Collection Of First Editions Of Churchill’s WWII And Post-War Speeches, 1941-61 79CHURCHILL, Winston S. Collection of World War II and post-war speeches. London, 194161. Together, 12 volumes. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jackets. $8500 First editions of Churchill’s separately published World War II and post-war speeches, including his rare last book, in original dust jackets. Churchill’s war speeches, published between 1941 and 1946, “constitute a contemporary history of the war which is as lively as it is authoritative; and, so far as contemporary history is of value, they may be said to be the last word upon the war” (Randolph S. Churchill). The bulk of Churchill’s speeches between late 1945, when he was voted out of the office of Prime Minister and became the leader of the opposition party in Parliament, through his second premiership of 1951-1955, up to 1959, when he gave his last public speech, make up the post-war speeches. The speeches included in these volumes trace the development of Churchill’s call for European unity through the abatement of socialist party power in Britain’s parliament, the start of the Korean War, rising tensions in the Middle East, and the establishment of NATO. Books generally fine, dust jackets with minor wear, generally to spine ends, rubbing to last volume of Post-War Speeches. Dust jackets on two volumes price-clipped, on five volumes with tape repairs to verso. An attractive set.
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