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This is a finely bound, first edition, only printing of the precursor to Winston S. Churchill s great war speeches.This copy is a compellingly handsome example of the fine binder s craft, in full red Morocco by Bayntun-Rivière. The binding features a hubbed spine with gilt-ruled compartments, gilt-decorated bands, and gilt-hatched spine ends. The spine features the title and author in the second and third compartments with the publication date at the heel. The first, fourth, fifth, and sixth compartments each feature a gilt lion rampant. The covers feature gilt rule borders and gilt-decorated edges, the front cover gilt-stamped with Churchill s facsimile signature. The contents are bound with all edges gilt, red and gold silk head and tail bands, and combed pattern marbled endpapers framed by generous, double gilt-ruled turn-ins with decorative corner devices. "BOUND BY BAYNTUN RIVIERE BATH ENGLAND." is gilt-stamped on the lower front pastedown turn-in. In 1939, the year the Second World War began, the firm of George Bayntun acquired the Rivière Bindery. The Bindery has been in residence on Manvers Street in Bath ever since. Condition of the binding is fine, with no toning, soiling, blemishes, or appreciable wear. The contents are likewise fine, worthy of their binding, notably clean with no spotting, soiling, or previous ownership marks. Arms and the Covenant 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, often at odds with both his own Government, political party, and prevailing public sentiment.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.Reference: Cohen A107.1. Woods/ICS A44(a), Langworth p.191.
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