Joan of Arc

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1969. First edition. Hardcover. Lauren Ford. This interesting little book is excerpted from Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. On 29 December 1938, Churchill wrote to his wife regarding his initial draft about this part of his history: "I have just finished writing about Joan of Arc. I think she is the winner in the whole of French history. The leading women of these days were more forceful and remarkable than the men." Profusely illustrated, this slim volume contains 17 illustrations by the distinguished artist Lauren Ford. Though 16 of these illustrations had previously been published as black and white drawings, this is their first appearance in color. The illustration on the dust jacket front cover and frontispiece is original to this edition.

This little-known edition is scarce and thus missing from many collections. Many of the copies that do come on the market are ex-library with attendant flaws and indelible. This copy is not ex-library, and unusually clean and bright, near fine in a very good dust jacket. The book is tight and square with sharp corners, bright gilt, and no appreciable soiling to the white cloth binding. The contents are clean with no spotting and no previous ownership markings. The dust jacket is bright, with an unfaded spine, and complete, apart from a neatly price-clipped upper front flap. We note moderate wear to the flap folds and hinges, most evident at the spine ends and corners. The dust jacket is protected with a removable, clear, archival cover.

Reference: Cohen A279, Woods/ICS A138(j), Langworth p.334.