“ABOUT A FEW PROMINENT MEN—GREAT EVIL, STUPID, SILLY, WISE”

CHURCHILL, Winston. Great Contemporaries. London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., (1937). Octavo, original navy cloth, original dust jacket. $6800.

First edition of this collection of biographical sketches of some of the most influential men of the 20th-century, illustrated with 21 photographic portraits, in scarce original dust jacket.

"This book is about mankind and about a few prominent men—great, evil, stupid, silly, wise… The book is also about Churchill as he sees himself, with the personalities which shaped his judgments and character… At this distance we see him absorbing those lessons of leadership for the moment when he was to become Prime Minister of a nation alone, at its most solemn hour" (Langworth, 177). Includes essays on George Bernard Shaw, Chamberlain, Lawrence of Arabia, Leon Trotsky, Hitler, Philip Snowden, and King George V, among others. Book is first state, with "burial march of a monkey" on page 53, line 16. First issue dust jacket with no price; although first issue dust jackets typically have a price on the front flap, this copy is without reviews on the front flap, which were added for the second issue. Cohen A105.1.a. Langworth, 178. Woods A43(a).

Book fine, dust jacket near-fine with minimal edge-wear, mild toning to spine. An exceptional copy.