THE WAR SPEECHES -Signed First American Edition Set in Dust Jackets-

First American Edition Set. Seven individual speech compilation volumes were published yearly in both the U.K. and the U.S. beginning in 1941 under the following titles: INTO BATTLE (1938-1940 speeches) [published in the U.S. under the title: BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS]; THE UNRELENTING STRUGGLE (1940-1941 speeches); THE END OF THE BEGINNING (1942 speeches); ONWARDS TO VICTORY (1943 speeches); THE DAWN OF LIBERATION (1944 speeches); VICTORY (1945 speeches); and SECRET SESSION SPEECHES (Various Dates). Unlike the English editions, which were all published by one publisher (Cassell), the American series was initiated by G.P. Putnam with BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS, then carried on by Little, Brown, up till the final volume, SECRET SESSION SPEECHES, which was published by Simon and Schuster. Their bindings are therefore not uniform. This complete set of First American Edition First Printings is signed in ink on the front free endpaper of the fourth volume, ONWARDS TO VICTORY: "Inscribed by Winston S. Churchill 1946."The contents of all volumes are fine and unfoxed. BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS was published by Putnam, the next five volumes were published by Little, Brown, and the final volume, SECRET SESSION SPEECHES, was published by Simon and Schuster.The dust jacket for BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS is unclipped but age-darkened and lightly stained with age, particularly along the spine. The book is virtually mint; the cloth fresh, the gilt lettering bright, the binding crisp, with some faint toning to the prelims, else fine.The UNRELENTING STRUGGLE jacket is price-clipped and lightly shelfworn, with faint rubs, chips, closed tears and a triangular inch of loss at the spine head. The book is square and tightly bound, the cloth is nominally sun-faded. The contents are fine, with a small vintage Holiday Cheer seal on the rear free endpaper.THE END OF THE BEGINNING jacket is price-clipped but bright and fresh with little shelf-wear. The book is virtually mint.ONWARDS TO VICTORY jacket is price-clipped but otherwise bright and fresh, with some light creases and edge-chipping. The cloth has darkened a bit with age and there are few very faint scratches to the front face, else fine.THE DAWN OF LIBERATION jacket is unclipped, fresh and bright, with fractional loss at the spine head and single chips on the front face and on the spine that have been filled out with red ink. The book is virtually mint.VICTORY dust jacket is unclipped and bright on the front and rear faces but faded on the upper (red-printed) half of the spine (as per usual with this jacket). There is fractional loss of approximately one-inch at the spine head. The book has darkened a bit along the spine, else fine.SECRET SESSION SPEECHES jacket is unclipped and virtually mint, as is the book itself. 8vo (Cohen A142.3.a, A172.2.a, A183.2.a, A194.2.a, A214.2.a, A223.2, A227.2.a) (Woods A66- A114).