Shall We Commit Suicide?

New York: Eilert Printing Company, Inc., 1924. First edition. Pamphlet. This scarce, original 1924 pamphlet contains a prescient and grim discussion of the potential horrors of future warfare and advocacy for the League of Nations for international standards of "sanity and hope". Among the issues discussed by Churchill is the prospect of biological warfare: "A study of Disease - of Pestilences methodically prepared and deliberately launched upon man and beast - is certainly being pursued in the laboratories of more than one great country. Blight to destroy crops, Anthrax to slay horses and cattle, Plague to poison not armies but whole districts - such are the lines along which military science is remorselessly advancing."

The pamphlet is introduced with an exhortation on the front cover by Charles W. Eliot, Harvard University's longest serving president and a noted supporter of progressive movement causes: "This Statement of the English Winston Churchill, in view of the actual and prospective destructive agencies available in war, should be placed forthwith in every American household." This pamphlet measures 8 x 3.5 inches and is 11 pages in length, wire-stitched with paper wraps.

This copy is the best preserved example of this scarce pamphlet we have offered in many years. Condition is near fine. The pamphlet remains crisp and fully intact, with no losses, tears, or creasing. Both binding staples remain firmly attached with no corrosion. A bit of trivial soiling to the covers and a hint of toning to the edges are the only modest flaws noted. We find no previous ownership marks.

Reference: Cohen A74.1, Woods A33