Featured Winnie....

Super excited about this lucky auction find here in the cultural desert in which I live...

I bought this set at what I have to believe is a bargain price. It's the collected works of Winston Churchill, produced in 1975, all 38 volumes. The covers are vellum.

According to the information page in each book, there were 2000 made for the UK and 1000 for the U.S. and Canada. Information I've seen on the internet says that in actuality only 1750 sets total were produced. OK, I can believe that since this was such a titanic undertaking. However, sheets in my set say that it is number 2146. How can this be?

Anyway, the set is on the top shelf and on the left-hand side of the next shelf down. Happy happy!

 

*Sound of horse winnying*

Thanks INH!!

 

LOVELY set of books .. WHAT A GREAT READ !!!! ... Joy.

 

I also thought Winnie the Pooh. Wonderful set of books, @Ghopper1924 !

 

@Ghopper1924 - Looks like all 38 volumes are present - and so nice to see it in the proper full vellum.
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Very nice. I too thought you found Winnie the Pooh.

 

"I too thought you found Winnie the Pooh."

Nah, it's the "other" Winnie! And thanks to you all.

If anyone can figure out the solution the the numbering issue I outlined above, please post it! All I can think of is that they cut the UK run short, but continued to number the U.S./Canadian run starting at #2000.

 

@Ghopper1924 - "Out Of Series." They don't destroy unsold sets numerically. They're distributed already numbered, and sets unsold are returned to the publisher.
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Thanks! Good thinking there, shallow.

Please forgive my slow and feeble thought processes. I apologize if I left out an important piece of the puzzle, but frankly I didn't' want to muddy the water or give the whole issue too much importance. Anyway, here goes:

There are bookplates laid in between the endpapers of some of the volumes, stating that "Volume XXVII of the Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill number 2146 in the centenary edition, has been commissioned by, and is published for "John Doe" by authority of the Churchill Centenary Trust."

Of course "John" was the person who purchased and owned the set before me. The implication is that the books were directly paid for by subscription (otherwise how would the Centenary Trust know "John's" name?), the further implication being that they only made as many at the time as were already paid for. So this little card insert makes me think that this set was never distributed on a general level, but only to subscribers.

Therefore, unsold sets were never returned to the publisher, because there never were any unsold sets. Did they just stop making them when they ran out of subscribers? Why, then, does my set number run above the purported run total of both sets? Because it was sold to a North American? But why not start the North American numbering at 1,000?

BTW, the books are not otherwise numbered, although the frontispiece says that numbers will be found inside the front covers. There are only dates penned in, seemingly in the same hand as the limitation cards, noting the sequential publication of the books over a period of several years.

Well, this is certainly not something to get too worked up about. Just curious.

 

Maybe you got the HC or AP limited edition

 

@Ghopper1924 , you may have seen this analysis... Just in case, I found it fascinating to read. https://www.chartwellbooksellers.co...the-collected-works-of-sir-winston-churchill/

Part of it relates to your latest post. There were unsold and unbound pages that were bought up, etc. There is also this: " I later learned that the actual press run of sheets was never 3000 but around 2000, and books were bound only as orders were taken." This ties in with your theories.

 

Excellent. Well done, Fig! Good to know I got a "deal" on this beautiful set after reading the appraisal part of the article.

 

Of course, it still doesn't answer your question about the higher numbering on yours. The excerpt I quoted does say "around 2000" were printed, so that leaves some wiggle room.

 

Thanks to your digging I know alot more than I did. It sounds like there may only be a few - or more likely, nobody at this late date - who can properly explain the numbering situation. I did read on the net of another American owner who has a set numbered over 2,000, so I doubt if that's a coincidence. My simplest theory may be right: They started numbering the American/Canadian sets at 2,000 and they would have gone up to 3,000 max.

In any case, the article you found made me even happier that I decided to invest in this set. Near fine condition + the extra volumes of essays + great price = Merry Christmas!

 

A nice Christmas present for yourself!

 

That does seem most likely - if the original plan was for 2000 for the UK and 1000 for North America, they tentatively assigned 1-2000 for UK orders, and 2001- 3000 for NA orders.
Nice find in any case, particularly if you got it for anything less than $5,000.

 

Around 25% of that.

 

I totally like your "I ride tandem with the random"