Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat.

CHURCHILL, Winston S.

$1,500.00

Item Number: 145964

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1941.

First edition of this classic work. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, frontispiece, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, gilt signature to the front panel, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation.

After having been offered the King's commission the previous Friday, to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the first year of World War II, Churchill gave his first address to the House of Commons, in which he asked the House to declare its confidence in his Government. This was the first of three speeches which he gave during the period of the Battle of France, which commenced with the German invasion of the Low Countries on May 10, 1940. The phrase, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat," was likely a paraphrase of one uttered on 2 July 1849 by Giuseppe Garibaldi when rallying his revolutionary forces in Rome: "I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battle, and death." The circumstances under which Garibaldi made that speech—with the revolutionary Roman Republic being overwhelmed and Garibaldi needing to maintain the morale of his troops towards a highly hazardous retreat through the Apennine mountains—was in some ways comparable to Britain's situation with France being overwhelmed by the German offensive.