Arms and the Covenant by Winston S. Churchill - 1938

London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1938. First Edition, only printing. Hardcover. This first edition, only printing, has been called "…the permanent record of one man’s unceasing struggle in the face of resentment, apathy, and complacency" and "probably the most crucial volume of speeches that he ever published." (Frederick Woods) The book contains text from 41 Churchill speeches spanning 25 October 1928 to 24 March 1938. These criticize British foreign policy and warn prophetically of the coming danger. The world remembers the resolute war leader to whom the British turned, but it is easy to forget the years leading up to the war which Churchill spent persistent, eloquent, and largely unheeded. The speeches were compiled by Churchill's son, Randolph, who contributed a preface and is credited with compilation. Randolph would do the same for his father's first volume of war speeches, Into Battle, published in an almost unrecognizable world less than three years later. The “Covenant” in the title of Arms and the Covenant refers to the League of Nations Covenant, the instrument that was to maintain peace in the wake of the First World War. As testimony to the book's importance, a copy of the U.S. edition lay on "President Roosevelt's bedside table, with key passages, including an analysis of the president's peace initiative, underscored" (William Manchester's The Last Lion, Volume II, p.305). The British first edition saw only a single printing of 5,000 copies published on 24 June 1938 and of these, perhaps as few as 3,381 were issued in the distinctive pale blue dust jacket. Here is an interesting copy with Empire provenance from New Zealand. A sticker on the lower spine, ostensibly placed by the publisher when the book was exported, is printed: “Published Price in Australia and New Zealand.” Consuming the lower portion of this sticker is a .75 inch circular punch hole through both sticker and jacket, removing the adjusted price and part of “Zealand”. The lower front flap is also neatly price-clipped. The dust jacket is otherwise complete, bright but lightly soiled and spotted, with closed tears to the upper corners and upper hinges. The hinge tears were previously repaired in amateur but unobtrusive fashion with a little clear glue. The dust jacket is protected in a removable, archival quality clear cover. The volume beneath is near fine, the binding square and tight with sharp corners and unfaded except for a circular spot on the lower spine corresponding to the hole-punched price on the dust jacket. The contents are quite clean with a crisp feel. We find no previous ownership marks and the book is almost free of spotting; we find perhaps half a dozen tiny spots confined to the otherwise clean fore edge. There is typical transfer browning to the half-title from the pastedown glue. Bibliographic reference: Cohen A107.1. Woods/ICS A44(a), Langworth p.191.