The Collected Essays (Cohen A279)

Upon publication of the Collected Works (1974), critics complained that they were incomplete. Winston Churchill had written hundreds of periodical articles and other pieces not found in his books, even in compilations like Thoughts and Adventures. The Library of Imperial History, roundly criticized for the exclusivity and high price of the Works, decided to respond.

The publishers duly commissioned Michael Wolff, formerly one of Randolph Churchill’s “young gentlemen” assistants on the Official Biography. His task was to compile Churchill writings that were not already in the Collected Works. The result was four satisfying volumes of material that would then have cost $20,000 or more to acquire in original form, assuming one could even locate it. Many periodicals were obscure, quickly read and discarded, their contents forgotten. Thus the real value of the Collected Essays.

Michael Wolff ignored a volume of material he considered “not essays in any sense of the word—letters, political pamphlets, speeches. Others, more marginal, were excluded because they were not meant for written publication.” (For many of these see Ronald I. Cohen, “Winston Churchill’s Unknown Canon,” 2020.) Even that left Wolff with nearly 2000 pages of rare material, published for the first time in volume form. Fastidiously, he subdivided the material by subject: war, politics, people, and a catch-all volume, Churchill at Large.

“The authentic voice of Winston Churchill”

Michael Wolff’s introduction is alone worth the price of admission. The Essays, he argues, offer unique insights. Churchill’s books went through many reviews and drafts, and were sometimes revised with new information. The result was polished and accurate, Wolff wrote, but

a long way removed from the original Churchillian utterances as he dictated the first paragraphs in the middle of the night, perhaps many months before. This is where special interest attaches to these essays. For the most part, they represent the authentic voice of Winston Churchill in a way that can otherwise only be captured in his speeches.

Of course, this sometimes works to Churchill’s detriment: the style is occasionally less than best, the ideas not properly developed. But Churchill was never a dull man, was almost incapable of writing or speaking a dull sentence, and his ideas were nearly always imaginative. As a biographical record these essays are therefore unique; as literary yardsticks they are of great interest; and as historical and political footnotes they are indispensable to an understanding of Churchill and his place in the history of his times.

The Essays were raced into print, because Churchill always needed money and moved rapidly to his next assignment. Even WSC referred to some as “potboilers.” When it came to articles like “Are There Men on the Moon?” or “I was Astonished by Morocco,” why labor over the text? His staff enjoyed these because the boss rarely indulged in endless revision. “We all loved doing potboilers,” said secretary Grace Hamblin.

Some scholars disagree. Churchill repeatedly revised and rewrote his books because he wanted them exactly right. Whatever your opinion, the Collected Essays remain a unique and valuable addition to the canon—indispensable to students of our author.

The volumes

Churchill and War runs from young Winston’s 1895 Cuban dispatches into the Second World War. Wolff includes two forewords, to Louis Spears’s Prelude to War and Pitt’s War Speeches. Better than half the volume covers the First World War, and a large portion of the rest is the run-up to the Second.

Churchill and Politics spans the great issues of 1903 to 1946: Free Trade to Socialism, India to the Abdication. The finale, “If I Were an American,” declares America the hope of the future, an inheritor of the liberties of the English-Speaking Peoples. Occasionally Wolff provides an prefatory note. No one would know what “Sheffield and Its Shadow” (1903) is about without one. Many issues then better known, like House of Lords reform, could do with prefaces today.

Churchill and People delves as far back as King Alfred the Great and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar on up to figures Churchill knew, but not then in Great Contemporaries. Included are such obscurities as William Willett, who conceived of Daylight Savings Time. Important too is Churchill himself: His 1935 series, “My Life,” mainly adds adventures not included in his 1930 autobiography.

Churchill at Large is an cornucopia for “everything else.” It runs from young Winston’s 1899 short story “Man Overboard!” to his eerie 1947 conversation with his father’s ghost in “The Dream.” A grand review of the 20th century, “Great Events of Our Time,” vies with his impressions of America from 1906 to 1946, and his retelling of “The World’s Greatest Stories,” from Don Quixote to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Here too are his classic 1930 what-if, “If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg,” and his controversial 1920 thesis, “Zionism versus Bolshevism.”

Centenary Limited Edition

Like the Works, the Essays were elaborately bound in full vellum blocked gilt with titles on spine and Churchill arms on cover, all edges gilt, inside edges of boards tooled gilt, silk page markers, marbled endpapers, head- and foot–bands, etc. Each volume was housed in a dark green leatherette slipcase with the Churchill Arms gilt on top panel.

Vol. I, Churchill and War, 510 pages numbered (i)-xviii and 1-492 (+2). Vol. II, Churchill and Politics, 494 pages numbered (i)-(xii) and 1-477 (+5). Vol. III, Churchill and People, 362 pages numbered (i)-(xii) and 1-347 (+3). Vol. IV, Churchill at Large, 530 pages numbered (i)-(xii) and 1-511 (+7).

In 1987, I discovered the remaining unbound sheets of the Essays at the bindery in Cornwall, and a number of sets were bound in materials other than the original vellum. Chief among these are cream morocco (green slipcases) and red morocco (red slipcases). These differ from the more modestly bound Centenary Edition, and are labeled “Centenary Limited Edition” on the half title and title page.

Centenary Edition

Internally this is the same as the above, except for by words “Centenary Edition” on the half title and title page. It is bound in quarter navy morocco with the Churchill Arms blocked gilt on the covers and the spine titles blocked gilt. It can also be. While fitted with page markers and marbled endpapers, the volumes lack gilt dentelles on the inner boards and only the top page edges are gilt. Like the Centenary Limited Edition, some unbound sheets were also later bound in full red morocco. Originally, the Centenary volumes were not individually slipcased, but copies sold in the 1990s were boxed in sets of four.

Grateful thanks

For kind assistance in research and for photos, the author wishes to thank two leading Churchill specialist booksellers: Barry Singer of Chartwell Booksellers in New York City; and Marc Kuritz of the Churchill Book Collector in San Diego. Appreciation also goes to the late Mark Weber, for his many contributions to our knowledge and friendship.