New to our shop is a set of the first Italian editions of Winston Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, titled Storia in Italian. The set is signed in Volume II by Churchill. The books were owned by Emery Reves, who was Churchill's literary agent and a close friend. Reves contributed greatly to the success of this work in a wider, international audience.
Emery Reves (1904-1981) owned an independent press service called the Cooperation Press Service and Publishing Company, known for its strong anti-Nazi stance. In 1937, Reves became Winston Churchill’s literary agent. He utilized his press company to place Churchill’s articles on current world events in major newspapers across Europe. What began as a profitable business partnership between the two grew over time into an enduring and close friendship.
Recognizing an opportunity for international success, Reves purchased the rights to publish Churchill's war memoirs and his four-volume History of the English Speaking Peoples outside of Britain. Reves used his intimate knowledge of foreign markets to help adapt Churchill’s work for wider audiences, which made Churchill one of the highest-paid authors of nonfiction in the 20th century. Churchill wrote of how “[Reves] has had lengthy telephonings with French, German, Italian and Scandinavian publishers, showing what they want for their edition.” Thus, this Italian edition set is a direct result of Reves’ hard work, and makes an impressive collector’s item to say the least.
Mitchell became one of the most prominent American map publishers of the mid-19th century and his visual record of the early Unites States gives us an incredible lens into the rapid growth of our country during this time. This engraved and hand-colored 1858 map of the United States is a wonderful example of Westward expansion and the worldwide powerhouse that America was becoming.
Douglas Adams (1853-1920) was a London based landscape painter. He exhibited in the Royal Academy between 1880 and 1894, showed at the Society of British Artists, the Grosvenor Gallery, and the New Gallery and shared a Primrose Hill studio with other artists. Adams specialized as a landscape and wildfowl painter and often painted sporting scenes. Many of his paintings celebrated the field sports of hunting, shooting, and fishing, set against stunning Highland landscapes and painted in the Victorian tradition.