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Articles
Gift Copies of Churchill’s “Marlborough: His Life and Times”
- By MICHAEL RICHARDS
- | September 13, 2023
- Category: Explore The Literary Churchill
Q: A gift of Marlborough
“After reading Andrew Roberts’ fine appreciation of Churchill’s Life of Marlborough, I acquired a modern copy and enjoyed it immensely. I would now like to present a special gift and wonder what you recommend? It appears to be in four volumes, but I can’t find a set.” —M.E., Penna.
A: A variety of options
Marlborough: His Life and Times was first published in four volumes in England (Harrap) and Canada (Ryerson and Harrap) between 1933 and 1938. In America, Scribner published six volumes, dividing the first two English volumes into four. Revisions were soon made to Volume I. After the war, Harrap republished the work in two volumes, with further revisions by Churchill.
The two postwar volumes are the basis of the most recent, paperback edition by University of Chicago Press. Copies are available from Amazon for about $100, sold separately as Part One and Part Two. We presume that for gift purposes, you want something nicer than paperbacks. There are many options among used copies at a wide variety of prices.
First Editions
The first British and Canadian editions (1933-38) were elegantly bound but prone to fading. Copies without jackets have mostly faded to pink, at least on the spines. The smallest hole in a dust jacket will produce a bleached-out spot. Copies with intact dust jackets are protected, but these are formidably priced. The two Churchill specialist booksellers are both friends of Hillsdale who have worked with us in various projects. We recommend a visit to their websites for current offerings: Chartwell Booksellers (Barry Singer) in New York; and The Churchill Book Collector (Marc Kuritz) in San Diego. See also BookFinder.com.
Routine “very good” first edition sets without jackets and some spine fade cost from $400 up on today’s market. Original jackets are best guarantee against fade—if the jackets are intact. Such sets sell for much more. A fine English first, unfaded with clean dust jackets, can cost $4000. Ryerson Canadian firsts (the fourth volume was issued by Harrap) are priced somewhat lower. Recently a fine unfaded set with chipped jackets and some spine fade was offered for $950.
American first editions in green cloth do not suffer from spine fade but are rarely encountered in their original state. This was less uniform than other firsts. Scribner boxed the English Volume I (1933) in two parts, causing confusion by labeling them Volumes I and II. Then Scribner labeled Volume II (1934) as Volumes III and IV. What the American publisher called Volume V appeared individually in 1936. The American Volume VI (1938), in newly designed jacket, was equivalent to the English Volume IV. Later, Scribner boxed their six volumes with uniform blue and gold jackets. Values are similar to those of the English and Canadian editions. Boxes are very rare.
Limited presentation editions
The ultimate gift is the signed limited edition of 150-plus—a few more were produced, according to bibliographer Ronald Cohen. (One unnumbered set bears the legend “special,” possibly in Churchill’s hand.)
Sold by subscription and published alongside the trade editions, the presentation edition was bound in orange Niger leather by Leighton Straker (not Sangorski and Sutcliffe, as commonly stated), blocked gilt with spine bands and marbled endpapers. Pages are finely laid paper. Volume I carries a tipped-in page signed by Churchill. Books were shipped in acetate dust jackets and a grey cardboard slipcase, the first box bearing the number.
This was the only signed limited issue of any Churchill work and is priced accordingly. Current offerings suggest that it would be wise to shop and compare. Bookfinder.com finds sets currently on offer from $10,000 to $26,000, but condition is everything. We are reliably advised that with the original acetate jackets and card slipcases, up to $45,000 has been asked and received.
In 1934 Churchill revised much of Volume I (Marlborough’s early life). That revision is part of a 1938 Harrap set described on its jackets (but nowhere else) as a “Limited Presentation Edition.” It was limited only to the overstock of volumes, bound in purple cloth with colorful black and orange jackets. The volumes can be quickly identified by their volume designations: one to four stars instead of Roman numerals. If anything, the purple cloth fades faster than the first edition. There is no particular gift value to this edition although a fine, unfaded set in jackets would be a good value at $300.
Modern fine bindings
Two fine bindings were published during the Churchill Centenary in 1974. Though hard to find outside full sets, they are attractive and would make handsome gifts.
The 1974 Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill was issued in thirty-four volumes, two of which comprised Marlborough. This edition was offprinted from the Harrap two-volume postwar edition and elaborately bound in vellum. The Collected Works are mainly sold as sets, but occasionally, individual titles are broken out. We located one set in Hay-on-Wye, the famous Welsh bookseller village, at $365. The vellum binding is, however, problematic. Vellum becomes brittle over time and tends to swell in its green slipcases. And after all, it’s nothing but a fancy reprint.
A better gift value but equally hard to find would be the Marlborough volumes from the Major Works Centenary Edition (25 vols.) published by the Diner’s Club. Nicely bound in Switzerland, these contain the postwar text, redivided into the original four volumes. At this writing we found no Diner’s Club Marlboroughs on offer. Bookfinder did locate a full set at $6000, which sounds very pricey indeed for a reprint.
Best buy
In 1991 the Folio Society produced a handsomely bound, boxed set in maroon buckram. A plus for this edition is a special introduction by Maurice Ashley. As Churchill’s 1930s literary assistant. Ashley knew as much about the writing of Marlborough as anyone. Folio produced the most luxurious version of Marlborough since the signed limited edition of the 1930s. Volumes are cased in maroon buckram, elaborately blocked gilt on the cover and spine. Top page edges are stained dark red. Books were housed in a maroon buckram box blocked gilt with the Marlborough Arms on both ends.
The Folio Society offered this limited edition at $300, with optimistic claims that its exclusivity rendered it a good investment. Although it is a handsome production, it is still a reprint, and bespoke “collectors editions” rarely skyrocket in value. Sets are regularly offered. They sell for much less than the first or collected editions and are good value for money. At this writing Bookfinder.com lists five sets, priced as low as $255.
Further reading
“Marlborough: In it Churchill ‘Laid the Basis of His Own Greatness,” by Andrew Roberts, 2019.
Thank you for a wonderful article presenting a fine overview of this stupendous biography. Amazingly, I first read the six volume green cloth edition that was housed in the library at The Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in the 1980s. In fact, at the time they had an excellent collection of his works because it was there that I first read The World Crisis, several of his singular works, plus the first six volumes of the official biography by Sir Martin Gilbert.