The Unwritten Alliance

London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1961. First edition, only printing. Hardcover. This is a jacketed copy of the fifth and final volume of Churchill's postwar speech volumes. There was no U.S. edition for this volume and the British first edition was limited to a single printing of 5,000 copies. Moreover, dust jackets for The Unwritten Alliance were notoriously poorly printed, and consequently are almost always rubbed or streaked, with orange showing through the black background.

This copy we grade as only good in a good dust jacket despite excellent shelf presentation. This copy juxtaposes an interesting mix of conspicuous strengths and flaws. The red cloth binding remains square, clean, bright, and tight with vivid spine gilt and sharp corners. Unfortunately, there are two vertical tape residue stains on each cover, almost certainly owing to a previous dust jacket protector. The contents show no spotting and no previous ownership names, but nonetheless suffer vertical tape stains from the aforementioned jacket protector on each pastedown and facing front free endpaper, as well the further injury of a gutter reinforcement at the rear pastedown and a large adhesive scar on the rear free endpaper verso. We would attribute the scar to removal of a library card pocket if not for the total absence of any other ex-library markings of any kind. The dust jacket is equally a study in contrast. Dust jackets for The Unwritten Alliance were notoriously poorly printed, and consequently are almost always rubbed or streaked, with orange showing through the black background. This jacket is bright and clean with none of the typical streaking. Moreover, apart from a neatly price-clipped lower front flap, this jacket is complete. Shelf presentation is excellent for the edition, the leaf borders at the spine ends nearly perfect and with only a little scuffing adjacent to the lower front hinge. Regrettably, there is browning from old cello tape. A horizontal band across the lower spine extending to the white rear panel shows only on the white rear panel, but tape browning is more prominent along the vertical edges of both inner flaps. The dust jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.

The Unwritten Alliance includes 70 speeches delivered by Churchill between 30 January 1953 and 31 October 1959. These speeches span the end of Churchill's second and final term as Prime Minister (1951-1955) and the twilight of his long life and public career. The period coincides with Churchill’s 1953 receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature, in part “…for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.” The bulk of the speeches in The Unwritten Alliance - 43 of 70 and 250 of 332 pages - take place during Churchill's premiership. In this final volume of his speeches published during his lifetime, Churchill passes "into a living national memorial" of the time he has lived and the Nation, Empire, and free world he has served.

The Unwritten Alliance takes its name specifically from Churchill's 8 June 1954 speech and more generally from the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States, which had endured postwar disagreements. The editor, Winston’s son Randolph, wrote in his introduction to the volume that the title was "justified by the number of speeches which dwell on the paramount necessity of Anglo-American friendship."

Reference: Cohen A273, Woods/ICS A142, Langworth p.338.