The River War
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1933. Hardcover. This is the first printing of the bibliographically significant 1933 edition of Churchill's second book in the scarce dust jacket. Originally published in 1899, The River War recounts Churchill's experiences and reflections concerning British involvement in the Sudan, including Churchill’s participation in “the last great British cavalry charge”. In 1933, a so-called "Second Cheap Edition" was made from plates of the 1902 edition with a bibliographically significant new introduction by the author explaining that "A generation has grown up which knows little of why we are in Egypt and the Sudan." There were ultimately five printings of this edition with at least seven different dust jackets issued (at least two for the 1933 second printing and two for the final, 1951 printing).
The distinctive illustrated dust jacket of the first printing (published in January 1933) was unique to the first printing. This copy approaches very good in a fair dust jacket. The purple cloth binding proved quite prone to fading, scuffing, and soiling. This binding is square and tight with sharp corners and strong purple hue, as would be expected of a jacketed copy, but with shelf wear to hinges and extremities and modest scuffing to the spine. The contents remain bright with a crisp, unread feel. All maps and plans are present and pristine. Very light spotting and toning is confined to the fore and top edges, the latter also showing mild dust soiling. The sole previous ownership mark is an inked name and date of “6.ii.33.” on the front free endpaper recto. The dust jacket remains bright and substantially complete, but shows considerable wear and flaws, with shallow chipping and short closed tears to extremities, tape reinforcement to longer closed tears at the lower spine, lower rear hinge, upper front hinge, and the bottom edge of the front face. The spine shows a partial vertical crease and some spotting. The dust jacket is protected beneath a removable, clear, archival cover.
When this printing was published, the author – once an itinerant cavalry officer and war correspondent during the reign of Queen Victoria – was beginning his 1930s “wilderness years” which he was to spend out of power and out of favor, frequently at odds with both his own political party and prevailing public sentiment. Churchill spent much of the remainder of the decade vigorously advocating rearmament and collective security - a task in which he was persistent, eloquent, and largely unheeded. The end of the decade brought dark and unwelcome vindication; with the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 Churchill returned to the Cabinet and to war. By May 1940 he was Britain’s prime minister.
Churchill’s wartime leadership was certainly informed by the battlefield experiences and observations of his youth. In 1883, Mahdist forces of messianic leader Mohammed Ahmed overwhelmed British-led forces, precipitating British withdrawal from the Sudan. In 1885, General Gordon famously lost his life in a doomed defense of Khartoum, where he had been sent to lead evacuation of Egyptian forces. General Kitchener reoccupied the Sudan in 1898. With him was a very young Winston Churchill, who participated in “the last great British cavalry charge” during the battle of Omdurman in September 1898, where the Mahdist forces were decisively defeated. Writing about the British campaign in the Sudan in The River War, Churchill - a young officer in a colonial British army - is unusually sympathetic to the Mahdist forces and critical of Imperial cynicism and cruelty. This work offers us the candid perspective of the future 20th century icon from the distinctly 19th century battlefields where Churchill learned to fight and write and earned his early fame.
Reference: Cohen A2.4.a, Woods/ICS A2(da.1), Langworth p.33. Item #006347
Price: $650.00