Highlights of Churchill

Melbourne and Sydney: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1943. First edition. Wraps. This is a striking and rare Australian pamphlet published during the Second World War. It contains excepts from the first three of Churchill's war speeches volumes: Into Battle, The Unrelenting Struggle, and The End of the Beginning. The pamphlet is bound in distinctive, pale green, wire-stitched card wraps, printed in dark green, with a half-tone photograph of Churchill's head and shoulders on the front cover. The contents are 14 unpaginated pages printed on card stock. A wartime publication date of 1943 is presumed. Bibliographer Ronald Cohen states: "The date of publication is not indicated; however, it is clearly after the publication of The End of the Beginning, to which it refers, and likely before Onwards to Victory, since there are no excerpts from that volume." (Vol. I, p.635) The speech excerpts are set out in short lines of varying length, looking like free verse, with spaced divisions between the 'stanzas'.

We have encountered only a few of these pamphlets over the years, typically with detached covers. This copy is in very good condition, complete and fully intact with no loss or tears. Both binding staples remain fully intact and show no corrosion. The covers are modestly soiled but retain unfaded green color. The contents show very light soiling and a few scattered spots. The rear cover indicates that, under license of the publisher of Churchill's war speeches (Cassell and Company Ltd.), the pamphlet was printed by "Deaton & Spencer Pty. Ltd." of Sydney. This interestingly accords with a small, vintage sticker of a Melbourne bookseller ("A. H. Spencer Pty. Ltd. | New, Secondhand, and Rare Booksellers") affixed to the lower right of the blank front cover verso. This sticker is the only previous ownership mark.

Reference: Cohen A184, not noted in Woods