Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$303.00 + shipping
Description: Churchill's first book, a copy of the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition, which was the first to incorporate the author's corrections in the text. Sml. 8vo, 337pp, frontis & 6 maps (2 folding). Orig. red smooth cloth rubbed and marked, small nick in lower front hinge and starting at the top & bottom of both hinges. Rubbed at corners and edge of front board, with a couple of black marks. Binding tight. Scarce early Churchill, the 2nd and corrected edition. See Langworth p.22 for variant points. Of the only 1,000 copies of this printing, just 337 were recorded as sold. Internally very good, binding good. New impression of Silver Library edition.
Seller: Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints, ABAA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$451.06 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Original red cloth hard covers, with gilt titling and decoration to spine. Spine discolored, with gilt darkened. Moderate edge-wear and bumping to corners. Edges toned; handwritten date to front endpaper, with old owner's blindstamp to bottom of title-page. One leaf shows a minor wrinkle from the binding process ( not affecting the print), and now stands a little proud in text-block. Otherwise clean, tight and unmarked. Very neat -- a sound and still handsome copy. Blood portrait frontispiece, plus six maps/plans, two of which are colour fold-out. xviii,337pp. Size: 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall
Seller: CARDINAL BOOKS ~~ ABAC/ILAB, London -- Birr, ON, Canada
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Description: This is the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition of Churchill's first book, notable for being a scarce binding variant. The Silver Library edition was the first to incorporate the author's corrections in the text, making this an important and highly collectable edition. Unfortunately, the maroon boards proved highly susceptible to fading and wear, the paper easily browned and became brittle, and the binding often cracked. Of only 1,000 copies of the second printing, just 337 were recorded as sold, so they are scarce. Despite the small number, there were multiple binding variants in this printing. This particular variant is bound in cloth that is smoother than that of the first printing, but nonetheless a similar maroon color with a blind rule border on the front cover rather than a gilt rule border. Moreover, this copy features the distinctive swan and ship endpapers typically found only in first printing copies, featuring the uncorrected "1926" date rather than the corrected "1924" date.Condition is very good overall. The binding is square and tight and shows only mild color shift between the covers and spine. The corners and spine show some wear with some fraying to the spine ends. The covers are lightly soiled with a few spots of minor blistering to the cloth. Though toned, as typical for the edition, the contents are clean with no spotting and no previous ownership marks. All maps are present and complete, as is the frontispiece and tissue guard. The Story of the Malakand Field Force recounts Churchills experiences while attached to Sir Bindon Blood's punitive expedition on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1897. This book was written and published while Churchill was a young cavalry officer still serving in India. He had successfully applied his pen as a war correspondent - indeed the book is based on his dispatches to the Daily Telegraph and the Pioneer Mail but this was his first book-length work. Churchill was motivated by a combination of pique and ambition. He was vexed that his Daily Telegraph columns were to be published unsigned. On 25 October 1897 Churchill wrote to his mother: ".I had written them with the design. of bringing my personality before the electorate." Two weeks later, his resolve to write a book firming, Churchill again wrote to his mother: ".It is a great undertaking but if carried out will yield substantial results in every way, financially, politically, and even, though do I care a damn, militarily." Having invested his ambition in his first book, he clearly labored over it: "I have discovered a great power of application which I did not think I possessed. For two months I have worked not less than five hours a day." Churchill sent the finished manuscript to his mother on the last day of 1897. It was published on 14 March of 1898. Publication was arranged by Churchill's uncle while the author was still in India, resulting in numerous spelling and detail errors. Churchill was incensed by the errors and acted with haste to address them. In part because of the errors in the first edition which so vexed Churchill, the publisher issued this second, Silver Library edition less than a year after the first in January 1899. Reference: Cohen A1.3.b, Woods/ICS A1(ba.2), Langworth p.22.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: This is the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition of Churchill's first book, notable for being a scarce binding variant. This Silver Library edition was the first to incorporate the author's corrections in the text, making this an important and highly collectable edition. Unfortunately, the maroon boards proved highly susceptible to fading and wear, the paper easily browned and became brittle, and the binding often cracked. Here is the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition. Of only 1,000 copies of this printing, just 337 were recorded as sold, so they are scarce. This particular copy is scarcer still. Bibliographer Ronald Cohen (Vol. I, A1.3.c, p.22) and Richard Langworth (p.22) note a binding variant, bound in a smooth, medium red cloth distinctly different from the textured maroon cloth common to the Silver Library edition and white wove, unwatermarked endpapers. This variant is slightly shorter than the standard Silver Library binding as well.Condition is very good plus. The binding remains tight and square with only minor shelf wear to extremities. The spine shows only light toning and soiling, the gilt bright and shelf presentation quite respectable. The covers show light soiling and staining, retaining strong red hue. The contents show only modest age-toning and light, intermittent spotting. All maps are present and complete, as is the frontispiece and tissue guard. The sole previous ownership marks are initials and a surname inked on the front free endpaper recto. The endpapers show some transfer browning from the pastedown glue. The Story of the Malakand Field Force recounts Churchills experiences while attached to Sir Bindon Blood's punitive expedition on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1897. This book was written and published while Churchill was a young cavalry officer still serving in India. He had successfully applied his pen as a war correspondent - indeed the book is based on his dispatches to the Daily Telegraph and the Pioneer Mail but this was his first book-length work. Churchill was motivated by a combination of pique and ambition. He was vexed that his Daily Telegraph columns were to be published unsigned. On 25 October 1897 Churchill wrote to his mother: ".I had written them with the design. of bringing my personality before the electorate." Two weeks later, his resolve to write a book firming, Churchill again wrote to his mother: ".It is a great undertaking but if carried out will yield substantial results in every way, financially, politically, and even, though do I care a damn, militarily." Having invested his ambition in his first book, he clearly labored over it: "I have discovered a great power of application which I did not think I possessed. For two months I have worked not less than five hours a day." Churchill sent the finished manuscript to his mother on the last day of 1897. It was published on 14 March of 1898. Publication was arranged by Churchill's uncle while the author was still in India, resulting in numerous spelling and detail errors. Churchill was incensed by the errors and acted with haste to address them. In part because of the errors in the first edition which so vexed Churchill, the publisher issued this second, Silver Library edition less than a year after the first in January 1899. Reference: Cohen A1.3.c, Woods/ICS A1(ba.2), Langworth p.22.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: This is the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition of Churchill's first book. The Silver Library edition was the first to incorporate the author's corrections in the text, making this an important and highly collectable edition. Unfortunately, the maroon boards proved highly susceptible to fading and wear, the paper easily browned and became brittle, and the binding often cracked. Of only 1,000 copies of the second printing, just 337 were recorded as sold, so they are scarce. Despite the small number, there were multiple binding variants in this printing. This particular variant is bound in cloth that is smoother than that of the first printing, but nonetheless a similar maroon color with a blind rule border on the front cover rather than a gilt rule border. Moreover, this copy features the distinctive swan and ship endpapers typically found only in first printing copies, featuring the corrected "1724" date (the correct year Longmans was founded, rather than the erroneous "1726" on the endpapers of the first printing of the Silver Library edition).Condition is very good plus. The binding is square and tight with no discernible color shift between the covers and spine. Light shelf wear is manifest only at the corners and spine ends. Shelf appearance is superior, with the deep maroon hue preserved, the gilt bright, and only slight soiling. Though age-toned ubiquitous in this edition - the contents are only mildly so, the toning showing only at the page edges. Moreover, the contents are notably clean. We find no previous ownership marks. Spotting is truly trivial, a scattered few spots confined to the fore edges with only a few intrusions into the blank inner margins of the text. The top edge shows a little shelf dust. All maps are present and complete, as is the frontispiece and tissue guard. The Story of the Malakand Field Force recounts Churchills experiences while attached to Sir Bindon Blood's punitive expedition on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1897. This book was written and published while Churchill was a young cavalry officer still serving in India. He had successfully applied his pen as a war correspondent - indeed the book is based on his dispatches to the Daily Telegraph and the Pioneer Mail but this was his first book-length work. Churchill was motivated by a combination of pique and ambition. He was vexed that his Daily Telegraph columns were to be published unsigned. On 25 October 1897 Churchill wrote to his mother: ".I had written them with the design. of bringing my personality before the electorate." Two weeks later, his resolve to write a book firming, Churchill again wrote to his mother: ".It is a great undertaking but if carried out will yield substantial results in every way, financially, politically, and even, though do I care a damn, militarily." Having invested his ambition in his first book, he clearly labored over it: "I have discovered a great power of application which I did not think I possessed. For two months I have worked not less than five hours a day." Churchill sent the finished manuscript to his mother on the last day of 1897. It was published on 14 March of 1898. Publication was arranged by Churchill's uncle while the author was still in India, resulting in numerous spelling and detail errors. Churchill was incensed by the errors and acted with haste to address them. In part because of the errors in the first edition which so vexed Churchill, the publisher issued this second, Silver Library edition less than a year after the first in January 1899. Reference: Cohen A1.3.b, Woods/ICS A1(ba.2), Langworth p.22.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 2nd printing of Silver Library Edition. "New Impression". February 1901. (2) , xvi, (2) , 337, (2) pages + frontis + 6 maps and sketches. Red cloth covers with blind stamped border on front board. Gilt illustration of a ship on spine. Gilt lettering on spine: "MALAKAND / FIELD / FORCE / 1897 / [rule] / WINSTON / SPENCER / CHURCHILL / [ship illustration] / THE SILVER / LIBRARY / LONGMANS & Co". Ship and swan pattern endpapers. Ex-military library. Pages clean and unfoxed. Tissue guard to frontis intact. Some dust stains to top page edges. "North Otago Officer's Club" and "Otago Military District" stamps on front endpapers and preliminary pages. Number written in crayon on front endpaper. Slight evidence of label removed from lower spine. Spine faded. Binding tight. ; 12mo
Seller: Renaissance Books, ANZAAB / ILAB, Dunedin, New Zealand
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Description: This second and final printing of the Silver Library edition of Churchill's first book is notable for being a scarce binding variant and for intriguing provenance.The Silver Library edition was the first to incorporate the author's corrections in the text, making this an important and highly collectable edition. Unfortunately, the maroon boards proved highly susceptible to fading and wear, the paper easily browned and became brittle, and the binding often cracked. Here is the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition. Of only 1,000 copies of this printing, just 337 were recorded as sold, so they are scarce. This particular copy is scarcer still. Bibliographer Ronald Cohen (Vol. I, A1.3.c, p.22) and Richard Langworth (p.22) note a binding variant, bound in a smooth, medium red cloth distinctly different from the textured maroon cloth common to the Silver Library edition and white wove, unwatermarked endpapers. This variant is slightly smaller than the standard Silver Library binding as well, with slightly trimmed text block, and the spine print and decoration in black instead of gilt. Condition is very good. The binding remains tight with only minor shelf wear to extremities and a slight forward lean. The spine shows moderate toning, as does a strip of the front cover fore edge. The contents are particularly bright and well preserved for a Silver Library edition, with only modest age-toning to the page edges and a hint of spotting almost entirely confined to the page edges. All maps are present and pristine, as is the frontispiece and tissue guard. This copy also features interesting and relevant provenance. The front free endpaper recto features an inked owner name above "Rawal Pindi" (a city in the Punjab province of what is now Pakistan) above the date "January 1926". An additional inked inscription directly below (ostensibly in the same ink and hand and signed with the same owner initials) appears to read "In memory of week end at Nowshera spent going over the Malakand". The only other previous ownership mark we find is the illustrated bookplate of a "Harry P. Tate" affixed to the facing front pastedown.The Story of the Malakand Field Force recounts Churchills experiences while attached to Sir Bindon Blood's punitive expedition on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1897. This book was written and published while Churchill was a young cavalry officer still serving in India. He had successfully applied his pen as a war correspondent - indeed the book is based on his dispatches to the Daily Telegraph and the Pioneer Mail but this was his first book-length work. Churchill was motivated by a combination of pique and ambition. He was vexed that his Daily Telegraph columns were to be published unsigned. On 25 October 1897 Churchill wrote to his mother: ".I had written them with the design. of bringing my personality before the electorate." Two weeks later, his resolve to write a book firming, Churchill again wrote to his mother: ".It is a great undertaking but if carried out will yield substantial results in every way, financially, politically, and even, though do I care a damn, militarily." Having invested his ambition in his first book, he clearly labored over it: "I have discovered a great power of application which I did not think I possessed. For two months I have worked not less than five hours a day." Churchill sent the finished manuscript to his mother on the last day of 1897. It was published on 14 March of 1898. Publication was arranged by Churchill's uncle while the author was still in India, resulting in numerous spelling and detail errors. Churchill was incensed by the errors and acted with haste to address them. In part because of the errors in the first edition which so vexed Churchill, the publisher issued this second, Silver Library edition less than a year after the first in January 1899. Reference: Cohen A1.3.c, Woods/ICS A1(ba.2), Langworth p.22.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Responding to numerous proofing errors in the First English edition of MALAKAND, Winston Churchill quickly prepared a new revised edition that restored the correct text as he'd originally intended it. Issued January 1899 in publisher Longmans' low-priced "Silver Library" series, this Second Edition constituted the book's definitive rendering. This is a very good copy of the Second Printing of this edition, which is, in fact, considerably rarer than the first. The title page states: "NEW IMPRESSION" (rather than "NEW EDITION"). It also adds the byline initial "L." to Churchill's name on the title page, and the publishing date: 1901. The Silver Library ?s ship logo is transferred in larger format to the third free endpaper, with a revised "Bibliographical Note" on the verso containing the full reprint date (February, 1901) and a boxed advertisement for Churchill's four subsequent books. The binding here in the standard brownish cloth is clean, square and tight. The spine is moderately faded, the gilt type is not. The endpapers are white and unwatemarked, without the standard swan decorative motif. The contents are fine and unfoxed. A handsome example and a bit of a hybrid that blends elements of the standard and variant bindings. The Silver Library Edition (?New Impression?) VARIANT BINDING [1 of 1,000 copies] (Cohen A1.3.c) (Woods A1bb.2). 8vo (340 pages, frontis photo, illustrated, with 6 maps, including 2 foldout in color)
Seller: CHARTWELL BOOKSELLERS, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: This second and final printing of the Silver Library edition of Churchill's first book is notable for being a scarce binding variant in superior condition with interesting provenance, including both Churchill's alma mater and the British embassy in Paris. This Silver Library edition was the first to incorporate the author's corrections in the text, making this an important and highly collectable edition. Unfortunately, the maroon boards proved highly susceptible to fading and wear, the paper easily browned and became brittle, and the binding often cracked. Here is the second and final printing of the Silver Library edition. Of only 1,000 copies of this printing, just 337 were recorded as sold, so they are scarce. This particular copy is scarcer still. Bibliographer Ronald Cohen (Vol. I, A1.3.c, p.22) and Richard Langworth (p.22) note a binding variant, bound in a smooth, medium red cloth distinctly different from the textured maroon cloth common to the Silver Library edition. This variant is slightly smaller than the standard Silver Library binding as well, with slightly trimmed text block, and the spine print and decoration in black instead of gilt. This particular copy of the variant binding differs further, featuring the distinctive swan and ship endpapers typically found only on first printing copies; moreover, the endpapers have a pronounced red hue we have never encountered, rather than the tan appearance of customary Silver Library edition endpapers. Condition is very good plus. The binding remains tight, with minor wear to extremities. The spine shows only slight color shift and the faint outline of what may have once been a sticker above the publisher's ship device. The contents are particularly bright and well preserved for a Silver Library edition, with only modest age-toning to the page edges. All maps are present and pristine, as is the frontispiece and tissue guard. This copy also boasts interesting provenance. The title page verso bears a prize certificate from Churchill's Alma Mater, Harrow School, filled out in pencil by hand for the "Summer" term of 1906, and awarded as a "Prize for Good Work sent up to the Head Master" to "W. H. S. Spurrier". In the spring of 1888, thirteen-year-old Winston Churchill was sent to Harrow, an independent boys boarding school that dates to the 16th century. Churchill remained at Harrow until 1892 when he left for the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. On the title page itself is circular ink stamp of the "AMBASSADE BRITANNIQUE PARIS" with the words "SERVICE D'INFORMATION (DOCUMENTATION)" within and the numbers "923" inked directly above the stamp. The only other previous ownership marks we find are the words "RESERVE STOCK" stamped in red ink on the first free endpaper and a tiny "Times Book Club" of London sticker affixed to the lower rear pastedown. The Story of the Malakand Field Force was based on Churchill's exploits with Sir Bindon Blood's expedition on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1897. While Churchill had previously applied his pen as a published correspondent, this was his first book-length work and he clearly labored over it: "I have discovered a great power of application which I did not think I possessed. For two months I have worked not less than five hours a day." The young Churchill was motivated by a combination of pique and ambition. He was vexed that his Daily Telegraph columns were to be published unsigned. Publication of the first edition of 1898 was arranged by Churchill's uncle while the author was still in India, resulting in numerous spelling and detail errors. Churchill was incensed by the errors and acted with haste to address them. In part because of the errors in the first edition which so vexed Churchill, the publisher issued this second, Silver Library edition less than a year after the first in January 1899. Reference: Cohen A1.3.c, Woods/ICS A1(ba.2), Langworth p.22.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Description: This humble, battered, paperback is an extravagantly rare "wraps" (paperback) Colonial issue of Winston Churchills first book and "the scarcest of all of the Malakand editions, issues, or printings." Cased (hardcover) colonial issues were produced in small numbers simultaneously with the Home Issue. Harsher climates and conditions in the colonies meant low survival rates - and often poor condition for the few survivors. Lesser known is that the publisher also produced a paperback colonial issue. These fared far worse than their hardcover counterparts. Wraps colonial issues were bound in thin, pale blue-green covers printed in dark blue, with an elaborately bordered front cover designating it as the "Longmans Colonial Library" issue and printed at the bottom "This Edition is intended for circulation only in India and the British Colonies". There were no fewer than 10 different editions, printings, and binding variations for the very small number of Colonial issues ultimately produced from 1898 to 1901. This copy is not only the last, but the rarest. In 1899, a second edition (The "Silver Library" edition) followed the first edition of 1898, driven in part by Churchills vexation at the myriad errors in the first edition. This second edition saw a second and final printing in 1901, some of the sheets for which were transferred to the Colonial Library. "In the end, only 80 of each of the wrappers and cloth copies were sold, making this printing the scarcest of all of the Malakand editions, issues, or printings." (Cohen A1.4.b, Vol. I, p.24) We know of only two surviving copies in the hardcover Colonial Library binding. This is the only surviving copy of which we are aware in the wraps Colonial Library binding. Potential singularity commends this copy, not condition. While both the front and rear covers of this copy are detached, wrinkled, and soiled, both covers are nearly complete, with nearly all of the original print still legible. Although the spine is heavily chipped, more than two-thirds of it remains intact, with much of the title, part of the authors name, and part of the publishers name still legible. The contents are respectable, particularly given their colonial provenance and fragile binding. Like the front cover, the first few leaves, spanning the front free endpaper through the frontispiece, are detached. Nonetheless, the frontispiece tissue guard remains intact and the contents are only mildly age-toned with no apparent spotting. The sole losses noted are just a few characters along the upper left edge of the text of the final page (p.337), some chipping to the blank fore edge margins of the same page, and some loss and tears to the blank final free endpaper. The Story of the Malakand Field Force recounts Churchills experiences while attached to Sir Bindon Blood's 1897 punitive expedition on the Northwest Frontier of India. This book was written and published while Churchill was a young cavalry officer still serving in India. He had successfully applied his pen as a war correspondent, but this was his first book-length work. His motivation was a combination of pique and ambition. Vexed that his Daily Telegraph columns were to be published unsigned, on 25 October 1897 Churchill wrote to his mother: ".I had written them with the design. of bringing my personality before the electorate." Two weeks later, his resolve to write a book firming, Churchill again wrote to his mother: ".It is a great undertaking but if carried out will yield substantial results in every way, financially, politically, and even, though do I care a damn, militarily." Having invested his ambition in his first book, he clearly labored over it: "I have discovered a great power of application which I did not think I possessed. For two months I have worked not less than five hours a day." The finished manuscript was sent to his mother on the last day of 1897 and published on 14 March of 1898. Reference: Cohen A1.4.b, Woods/ICS A1(bb.2) Second ed
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.