The World Crisis. by CHURCHILL, Winston S - 1923-31: [1911-1914; 1915; 1916-1918 Part I; 1916-1918 Part II; The Aftermath; The Eastern Front.]

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited,, 1923-31. Inscribed to an intelligence officer "crucial to the war at sea" First editions, first impressions, vol. I inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Inscribed for Colin McFadyean by Winston S. Churchill, Oct. 10 1945". Fluent in French and German and the son of a former ambassador to Germany, Colin McFadyean had been appointed in September 1939 by Ian Fleming to head the German section in Naval Intelligence (Fry, pp. 50-1). In 1942, he moved to Trent Park, where German generals and officers captured in the war were secretly bugged to hear their private conversations. McFadyean was tasked with interrogating U-boat prisoners; "his work with Naval Intelligence was crucial to the war at sea" (The Times obituary, 12 June 2007). Towards the end of the war Churchill read and annotated a copy of McFadyean's paper on prisoner interrogation (National Archives, ADM 223-475). The World Crisis is Churchill's mammoth history of the First World War. The work deals with his reorganization of the Royal Navy in the years leading up to the War, defends his Gallipoli policy, and criticizes Haig's strategy. "Although parts of The World Crisis were highly autobiographical, drawing on documents from Churchill's private papers, the book as a whole was a stupendous narrative of the war in Europe featuring masterly set-piece accounts of major battles. Dictated to secretaries as he strode up and down the room, it exhibited his passionate interest in war and his romantic conception of the 'true glory' of the troops who perished on the Somme" (ODNB). Six volumes, octavo. Original blue cloth, spines lettered in gilt, front covers lettered in blind. Some soiling and wear to bindings, light toning to contents and edges; vol. I with inner hinges cracked but holding, vol. II with spine dulled and ownership signature to front pastedown, vol. IV with ownership stamp to initial blank. A good set. Cohen A69.2(I).b (second state, no priority of issue); A69.2(II).a; A69.2(III-1 & 2).a; A69.2(IV).b; A69.2(V).a. Helen Fry, The Walls Have Ears, 2019.