Ian Hamilton's March, finely bound in full red Morocco goatskin by Bayntun-Riviere.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900. First edition, first printing. Full leather. This an exceptional, finely bound British first edition, first printing of Churchill’s fourth published book. Ian Hamilton’s March is the second of Churchill’s two books based on his newspaper despatches sent from the front in South Africa. This book and its preceding companion, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, are Churchill's final literary effort as an itinerant soldier and war correspondent before embarking on his storied political career.
This copy is a compellingly handsome example of the fine binder’s craft, in full red Morocco by Bayntun-Rivière. The binding features a hubbed spine with gilt-ruled compartments, gilt-decorated bands, and gilt-hatched spine ends. The spine features the title and author in the second and third compartments with the publication date at the heel. The first, fourth, fifth, and sixth compartments each feature a gilt lion rampant. The covers feature gilt rule borders and gilt-decorated edges, the front cover gilt-stamped with Churchill’s facsimile signature. 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 binding is fine, with no toning, soiling, blemishes, or appreciable wear. The truly fine contents suit the binding - bright, complete, and immaculately clean. We find no spotting, no soiling, and no previous owner marks. All maps and plans are present, as is the frontispiece and original tissue guard. The contents are bound with the original publisher’s catalogue dated “7/00”. Also bound in at the rear are the publisher’s original red cloth front cover, spine, and rear cover. Laid in at the front endpapers is the original Bayntun slip presenting and explaining the binding.
In October 1899, the second Boer War erupted between the descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British. Churchill, an itinerant, adventure-seeking young cavalry officer and war correspondent, swiftly found himself in South Africa with the 21st Lancers and an assignment as press correspondent to the Morning Post. Not long thereafter, on 15 November 1899, Churchill was captured during a Boer ambush of an armored train. His daring and dramatic escape less than a month later made him a celebrity and helped launch his political career.
Churchill's first book of Boer War despatches, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, was published in England in mid-May 1900 and sold well. Ian Hamilton's March completes Churchill's coverage of the Boer War, publishing 17 letters to the Morning Post, spanning 31 March through 14 June 1900. The narrative in Ian Hamilton's March includes the liberation of the Pretoria prison camp where Churchill had been held.
While London to Ladysmith via Pretoria had swiftly published Churchill's dispatches in the wake of his capture and escape, for Ian Hamilton's March "the texts of the originally published letters were more extensively revised and four letters were included which had never appeared in periodical form" (Cohen, A8.1.a, Vol. I, p.105). Churchill effected these revisions while on board the passenger and cargo steamer Dunottar Castle, which was requisitioned as a troop ship, en route home to England. Arriving home from South Africa in July 1900, Churchill spent the summer campaigning hard in Oldham, where he won his first seat in Parliament on 1 October 1900 in the so-called "khaki election". The British first edition of Ian Hamilton's March was published just a few weeks later.
Reference: Cohen A8.1.a, Woods/ICS A5(a), Langworth p.59. Item #008300
Price: $2,000.00