Description

“ABOUT A FEW PROMINENT MEN—GREAT, EVIL, STUPID, SILLY, WISE”: FIRST EDITION OF GREAT CONTEMPORARIES, EXCEPTIONAL PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY CHURCHILL TO PRIME MINISTER STANLEY BALDWIN IN THE MONTH OF PUBLICATION

CHURCHILL, Winston. Great Contemporaries. London: Thornton Butterworth, (1937). Octavo, original navy cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom full leather clamshell box.

First edition, presentation copy, of this collection of biographical sketches of some of the most influential men of the 20th century, illustrated with 21 photographic portraits, inscribed to former British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin on the half title and dated in the month of publication: “To S.B. from W.S.C., October 1937.”

“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, Adolf Hitler, Philip Snowden and King George V, among others. In extremely scarce first-issue dust jacket. Cohen A105.1a. Woods A43(a). Langworth, 176-179. Baldwin served three terms as Britain’s Prime Minister, in 1923, 1924-29, and again in 1935-37. Although Baldwin and Churchill frequently clashed in the House of Commons, Baldwin appointed Churchill Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924, the post once held by Churchill’s father, Sir Randolph Churchill, and which Churchill held until 1929. Baldwin and Churchill ultimately parted ways over Churchill’s opposition to Indian independence. Their contentious relationship was summed up by Churchill in a 1935 speech to the House of Commons: “In those days Mr. Baldwin was wiser than he is now; he used frequently to take my advice.” This copy comes from the Churchill collection of Malcolm S. Forbes Jr.

A fine copy in bright fine price-clipped dust jacket with exceptional provenance.