A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Publisher's Presentation set of the first U.S. edition by Winston S. Churchill - 1956

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1956. 1st Edition. Hardcover. This is a full publisher's presentation set of the U.S. first edition of Churchill's sweeping history and last great work. The first draft of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples was completed just before the Second World War, but the work was not completed and published until after Churchill's second and final Premiership, nearly 20 years later. The work traces a great historical arc from Roman Britain through the end of the Nineteenth Century, ending with the death of Queen Victoria. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the very year that saw Churchill conclude his first North American lecture tour, take his first seat in Parliament, and begin to make history himself. The work was issued in four volumes between 1956 and 1958. This U.S. first edition is not to be confused with the similar looking Book-of-the-Month-Club (BOMC) edition and is far less often seen than its British counterpart. Scarcer still are the small number of U.S. first editions were produced bearing the words "PRESENTATION EDITION. NOT FOR SALE" on the copyright page of each volume. In all other respects such copies are identical to normal U.S. first editions, including the $6.00 price on the dust jacket flap. Here is a full, four-volume publisher's presentation set, near fine plus in very good dust jackets. All four volumes bear the distinctive presentation edition notation on the copyright page. All four volumes also state "First Edition" on the copyright page. All four dust jackets are unclipped, retaining the original $6.00 prices. The bindings are clean, tight, and square with sharp corners. The contents are clean and bright with no spotting and no previous ownership marks. The red topstain remains strong on all four volumes, with just a bit of mild irregularity to the Volume I topstain. Even the untrimmed text block fore edges are clean and bright. The dust jackets are all in very good or better condition, highly complete, with moderate fading to the red color that is endemic to these jackets. Overall shelf presentation for this set is not perfect, but quite respectable. The Volume One jacket has very little wear with only mild sunning to the spine. Volume Two is likewise highly complete with only mild sunning to the red panel on the spine, light soiling, and a closed tear at the upper front hinge. Volume Three has light wear at the spine head and tail and a one inch closed tear on the front face, but virtually no sunning to the red spine panel. Volume Four is bright and clean with no sunning to the spine panel, a tiny chip at the spine head, and a one inch closed tear on the front face. All four dust jackets are protected in removable, archival quality clear covers. Bibliographic reference: Cohen A267.3, Woods/ICS A138(ab), Langworth p.318