Great Contemporaries by Winston S. Churchill - 1937

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1937. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. This is Churchill's much praised collection of insightful essays about 21 leading personalities of the day - including the likes of Lawrence, Shaw, and, most famously, Hitler. About Hitler, Churchill writes: "We cannot tell whether Hitler will be the man who will once again let loose upon the world another war in which civilization will irretrievably succumb, or whether he will go down in history as the man who restored honour and peace of mind to the great Germanic nation and brought it back serene, helpful and strong, to the forefront of the European family circle." The book was written with what has been called "penetrating evaluation, humor, and understanding." Churchill also reveals key glimpses into his own character and perspective. This is as fascinating a read today as it was in 1937. Offered here is the first U.S. edition, first printing, very good in a near very good dust jacket, which is unique to the first printing and has become scarce. The blue cloth binding is clean, bright, and square, with sharp corners, marred only by a bit of flaking to two of the five red spine panels. The contents are clean and bright with no inscriptions and no spotting. There is some transfer browning at the pastedowns and endpapers and the red-stained top edge is sunned. The dust jacket is bright, clean, and unclipped, still bearing the original $4.00 price. Of particular note, the spine retains deep, unfaded blue color. Wear is primarily confined to extremities, particularly at the spine ends and top edge of the front face. The spine shows chipping at both ends, to a depth of .25 inch at the top of the spine, .75 inch at the bottom of the spine. There is a .75 by 1.75 inch triangular loss at the top edge of the front face. The dust jacket is protected in a removable, archival quality clear cover. Bibliographic reference: Cohen A105.2, Woods/ICS A43(ab), Langworth p.179.