The World Crisis: The Eastern Front by Winston Churchill first edition 1931

London:  Thornton Butterworth Ltd., 1931
 
Large thick 8vo., navy publisher’s boards, embossed with title and author to the lower corner; spine lettered and decorated in gilt; pp.[vi], 7-368; with frontis photograph showing the Emperor Francis Joseph; a further 7 plates, 11 folding maps, including one full-colour to face final page, numerous other diagrams in text; light spotting to edges; and offsetting to endleaves; one loose slip offset to title; the boards a touch rubbed to spine tips and corners, but else exceptionally bright. Provenance: Contemporary ownership inscription of John C. Buchanan to the ffep. 
 
First edition. Loosely inserted are also three ephemeral items: a newspaper clipping from the date of publication, a bookmark advertisement from the Royal Exchange, and an advertisement slip for the Omnibus edition of The World Crisis. 
 
The World Crisis contains a thorough account of the Great War. Churchill was a notoriously prolific writer, and by the time it came to to the sixth volume of this monumental work, he noted to his publisher "In the previous volumes of the World Crisis I have described only in a few pages the course of events in the Eastern theatre. They have merely been the background of our main drama of the war. But now I think I might write a volume called 'The Eastern Front', which would be separate from but supplementary to our five volume history." In fact, it may have been prophetic: the Eastern Front would prove critical to Churchill’s efforts as Britain’s leader during the Second World War.
 
Notoriously the hardest title to find in the World Crisis series, rare in this condition.