The River War, An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan, magnificently bound in full red Morocco by Bayntun Riviere.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899. First edition, first printing. Full leather. This is the first edition of Winston Churchill's second published work in a magnificent fine binding by Bayntun Rivière. The River War, Churchill's second published work, is the lengthiest from his time as an itinerant cavalry officer and war correspondent during the waning days of Queen Victoria’s reign.
This large, two-volume, first printing set is magnificent testimony to the superlative craftsmanship of the binder. Each full red Morocco binding features a hubbed spine with gilt-ruled compartments, gilt-decorated spine bands, and gilt-hatched spine ends. The spine features the gilt-stamped title, author, and volume number in two compartments and the date at the spine heel, four unprinted compartments each decorated with a gilt-lion rampant. The covers feature gilt rule borders, gilt-decorated edges, and Churchill’s facsimile signature, “Winston S. Churchill”, stamped in gilt on the center front cover. The contents are bound with all edges gilt, red and gold silk head and tail bands, and combed pattern marbled endpapers framed by generous, double gilt-ruled turn-ins with decorative corner devices.
“BOUND BY BAYNTUN RIVIERE. BATH. ENGLAND.” is gilt-stamped on the lower front pastedown turn-in. In 1939, the year the Second World War began, the firm of George Bayntun acquired the Rivière Bindery. The Bindery has been in residence on Manvers Street in Bath ever since.
Condition of the set is fine. The exceptional bindings are square, tight, immaculately clean, and flawlessly bright with sharp corners and only a few trivial, unobtrusive scuffs. The first printing contents are well suited to the bindings – clean and bright with no spotting. The profusion of maps, plans, and illustrations are all present, including both frontispiece portraits and their original tissue guards. The only previous ownership mark is the faded ghost of previous owner notation at the upper right corner of the Volume II title page.
In 1883, Mahdist forces of messianic leader Mohammed Ahmed overwhelmed the Egyptian army of British commander William Hicks and Britain ordered 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. Though the Mahdi died that same year, his theocracy continued until 1898, when General Kitchener reoccupied the Sudan. With Kitchener was a young Winston Churchill, who participated in decisive defeat of the Mahdist forces and the last "genuine" cavalry charge of the British army during the battle of Omdurman in September 1898. Writing about the British campaign in the Sudan, 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 write and earned his early fame. The text is arresting, insightful, powerfully descriptive, and of enduring relevance.
This first edition is not only compellingly written, but also beautiful and bibliographically important. Each volume is printed on heavy paper with a profusion of illustrations, maps, and plans. They are also scarce; there were 2,000 copies of this first edition, first printing. Moreover, this is one of the few Churchill books for which there was no concurrent U.S. first edition.
Reference: Cohen A2.1.b, Woods/ICS A2(a.1), Langworth p.29. Item #008296
Price: $5,500.00