My Early Life.
London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1930. First edition, second printing. Hardcover. Originally published in October 1930, My Early Life is Churchill's extremely popular autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1874 to his first few years in Parliament. This is the first edition, second printing. The second printing was published in late October, only days after the October 20th first printing, and is virtually identical in appearance, differing only in the notation of the second printing on the title page verso. Of note, this copy comes with a substantial portion of its original dust jacket – also identical to that of the first printing.
My Early Life has seen a great many editions, but of course a premium attaches to first editions, with jacketed examples being among the most elusive prizes in the Churchill canon. The vivid plum color of the binding and dust jacket proved incredibly vulnerable to sunning. Whether because of sunning, the fact that this popular book appears to have been widely read, or both, very few first edition dust jackets survive. This is the only jacketed second printing either we or Churchill’s bibliographer have ever recorded. Likely this is because of the great temptation to transfer any second printing dust jacket to a first printing book; any respectable jacketed first printing now commands a five-figure sum.
In this case, the beleaguered dust jacket clearly belongs with this book and we have not separated them. The dust jacket is in five pieces, including each flap, each face, and a fragment of the upper spine. The faces and flaps are significantly edge-chipped, though nearly all print remains intact. The spine fragment – a 3.25 inch (8.26 cm) long piece - includes part of the title, part of the subtitle, and part of the author’s name. Each piece is laid atop (but not affixed to) a full-color replica of the original dust jacket, the replica and original pieces then placed beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.
The book beneath is very good, clearly having benefitted from long being protected by its dust jacket. The fragile cloth binding is square, tight, and clean, retaining unusually bright hue. The spine is quite scarce thus, still holding a substantial amount of purple hue, more toned at the spine ends and lower spine, ostensibly corresponding to the portions of the dust jacket that were lost first, exposing these parts to sun. The gilt print remains bright. Light wear is primarily confined to extremities, the spine ends a bit wrinkled, the lower corners with small bumps. The contents are respectably bright with light, intermittent spotting. We find no previous ownership marks. The endpapers show differential toning corresponding to dust jacket flaps, confirming that this copy spent much of its life jacketed.
One can hardly ask for more adventurous content than the non-fiction (well, mostly) between the covers of My Early Life. Herein Churchill says:
"Twenty to twenty-five! These are the years!
Don't be content with things as they are....
Don't take No for an answer. Never submit to failure...
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true,
and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her." (MEL, p.74)
By the end of his own twenty-fifth year, Churchill had been one of the world’s highest paid war correspondents, published his first five books, made his first lecture tour of North America, braved and breasted both battlefields and the hustings, and been elected to Parliament, where he would take his first seat only weeks after the end of Queen Victoria’s reign.
My Early Life remains one of the most popular and widely read of all Churchill's books. To be sure, Churchill takes some liberties with facts and perhaps unduly lightens or over-simplifies certain events. Nonetheless, the factual experiences of Churchill’s early life compete with any fiction, and any liberties taken are forgivable, in keeping with the wit, pace, and engaging style that characterize the book.
Reference: Cohen A91.1.d, Woods/ICS A37(aa), Langworth p.131. Item #008131
Price: $2,950.00