My Early Life.
London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1930. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is a strikingly clean and bright first edition, first printing of Churchill's autobiography. My Early Life sold well at the time and has seen a great many editions since, many of these collectible in their own right, but of course a premium attaches to first editions. The challenge for collectors is that the plum-colored binding of this edition proved especially vulnerable to fading, soiling, and wear; nearly all copies are considerably spine faded. Moreover, the contents proved quite susceptible to spotting.
Two states of the first edition, first printing are identified, with a list of either 11 or 12 Churchill titles in the boxed list of "Works by the same Author" on the half-title verso. With 12 titles on the half title verso, this copy is second state. There were also a number of first edition binding states, bound in either a coarse or a smooth plum colored cloth, with the title stamped on the front cover in either three or five lines. This first edition, first printing, is the second binding state, denoted by five lines on the front cover, and is bound in coarse cloth.
Condition approaches near fine, quite scarce thus. The plum cloth binding is tight, improbably clean, and beautifully bright. We note only the mildest hint of uniform color shift to the spine and an adjacent strip of the rear cover. Shelf presentation is just lovely, the gilt vivid and plum hue a treat after all of the dulled first printing spines we have seen over the years. The binding shows only light shelf wear, confined to gently bruised lower corners and wrinkled spine ends. The contents are worthy of the binding, notably bright with no discernible age toning. Spotting, endemic to the edition, is mercifully light, appearing confined to the endpapers, half title, and page edges. An armorial bookplate affixed to the front pastedown is curiously printed “Dorothea Maxwell | or Rainsford Hannay | of Cardoness". The “or” stems from the fact that she was the daughter of the last Baronet of Cardoness, whose male heir died at Gallipoli and whose baronetcy became extinct on his death in 1924; his estate passed to his daughter, Dorothy, who married Frederick Rainsford Hanny, merging Cardoness with neighboring Kirkdale estate. The adjacent, upper left front pastedown is inked "Rainsford Hannay (482" and ink-stamped "CARDONESS LIBRARY". There is offsetting to the facing front free endpaper recto from both bookplate and ink stamp.
My Early Life covers the years from Churchill’s birth in 1874 to his first few years in Parliament. One can hardly ask for more adventurous content. These momentous and formative years for Churchill included his time as an itinerant war correspondent and cavalry officer in theaters ranging from Cuba, to northwest India, to sub-Saharan and southern Africa. Churchill also recounts his capture and escape during the Boer War, which made him a celebrity and helped launch his political career.
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. Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance. 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 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. The factual experiences of Churchill’s early life compete with any fiction, and the book’s wit, pace, and engaging style remain as compelling as the life they chronicle.
Reference: Cohen A91.1.c; Woods/ICS A37(aa); Langworth p.131; NPG; thepeerage.com. Item #008850
Price: $3,000.00