Arms and the Covenant. Speeches by The Right Hon. Winston S. Churchill. Compiled by Randolph S. Churchill.

CHURCHILL, Winston S.; Randolph Churchill.

$3,200.00

Item Number: 115632

London: George G. Harrap, 1938.

First edition of this collection of speeches, signed by Churchill’s son Randolph, who was the editor of this volume. Octavo, original cloth, photographic frontispiece of Churchill. Signed on the front free endpaper, “Inscribed by Randolph S. Churchill.” In near fine condition.

All but two of the speeches collected here were delivered by Churchill in the Commons in the years leading up to the Second World War. Collected by Churchill's son, Randolph, and revised a second time by Churchill, these represent some of the best written by a man who "devoted more time than any other modern orator to the preparation of his speeches" (Langworth, 190). "The finest (and most ominous) pre-war warning of Winston Churchill occurs on [its] penultimate page… Available in no other Churchill book… the last four paragraphs of that famous speech on 24 March 1938… summarize the theme of this volume, a precursor to the official theme of The Gathering Storm: 'How the English-speaking peoples through their unwisdom, carelessness, and good nature allowed the wicked to re-arm" (Langworth, 190).