第二次大戦回顧録  [The Second World War, in Japanese]

Author: Winston Churchill

First Japanese editions, signed by Churchill in each of 24 volumes, variously dated 1950 to 1956, vol. 23 inscribed “Winston S. Churchill for Emery Reves 1955”.

24 volume set plus two duplicate copies of vol 1, both unsigned. Total of 26 vols.

Printed in Japan: The Mainichi Newspapers [1950–56]

Octavo.

Original maroon cloth, spines lettered gilt, front covers with facsimile signature blocked in gilt and silhouette bust of Churchill blocked in blind.
Two volumes with original glassine wraps.
Vol. 5-rear hinge cracked.

An excellent set.

Emery Reves (1904–1981) was Churchill’s literary agent, instrumental in promoting Churchill’s international profile by the world-wide syndication of many of his prophetic newspaper articles during the late thirties. Their association blossomed again after the war when Reves negotiated the sale of the US rights for The Second World War, and purchased the international rights himself, selling serialization to twenty-seven newspapers across the globe and securing book rights in eleven European countries. Churchill said of this feat, “I am sure that no one could have done it except Reves who buzzed around the world for nearly a year making contracts.” They subsequently worked closely together on the book itself, Reves having what Martin Gilbert has described as “considerable editorial input”. Much of what Reves contributed might be placed under the heading of “marketing”.

Reves suggested “The Gathering Storm” as the title for the all-important opening volume, (“The Downward Path” had been Churchill’s first choice) and recommended the shifting of the documentary apparatus to appendices so as to free the narrative flow. However, his intuitive sense of the potentially enduring nature of the project did much to sharpen the focus of the Great Man and his “Syndicate” of researchers, having an immense influence on both the book’s initial impact and its lasting legacy; “Roosevelt is dead and Stalin will never publish his documents, you are the only man who can reveal the decisive issues of the last war.”

Item #309