Works by Winston S. Churchill Signed Or Inscribed by Churchill
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Works by Winston S. Churchill Signed or Inscribed by Churchill 2016 A little custom ink makes things better, don’t you think? “What shall I do with my books?” was the question; and the answer, “Read them… but if you cannot read them, at any rate handle them… Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. Set them back on your shelves with your own Churchill Book Collector specializes in published works by and about Sir hands. Arrange them to your own plan, so that if Winston S. Churchill, featuring one of the world’s most extensive Churchill- you do not know what is in them, you at least know specific inventories. Our listings range from some of the rarest material offered where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let - including fine first editions and inscribed copies - to reading copies and works them at any rate be your acquaintances.” about Churchill’s life and time. (December 1921, “Painting as a Pastime”) Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, rightly called Churchill’s long life “remarkable and versatile”. Statesman, soldier, war correspondent, ardent social reformer, combative cold warrior, painter, Nobel Prize winner - Churchill was many things, but perhaps above all a master wordsmith. We’re here to help Churchill’s words find your shelves. Our full inventory, including detailed descriptions and multiple images of each item we offer, may be searched on our website: www.churchillbookcollector.com Our website features not only our inventory, but also our blog and our extensive illustrated Guide to Churchill’s first edition books, which includes images and bibliographic information found nowhere else in print or online. We periodically contact our customers regarding new listings and special opportunities. To join our customer contact list, please either sign up via our website or email us at [email protected] Although our specialty remains Churchill, our inventory also includes a selection of noteworthy first and collectible editions by other authors, ranging from Xenophon to Kipling to T.E. Lawrence and spanning exploration and empire to twentieth century fiction. We can certainly help you with collecting or selling other authors. The internet has fundamentally changed bookselling. Nonetheless, we try to bring the same level of personal care and attention that a collector might find in a traditional bookshop. And of course, for those of you who find yourselves in San Diego, we do still welcome customers in person by appointment. Our descriptions are reliably detailed, accurate, and honest. We answer inquiries fully and swiftly. We pack and ship all of our orders with care and attention. And we are able to help assemble full collections of Churchill’s works and commission quality fine bindings and preservation cases. Churchill Book Collector Please contact us with your questions about any works in the Churchill canon, ABAA | ILAB | IOBA your wants, or with books or collections for sale. San Diego, California, U.S.A. Cheers! Available online and by appointment [email protected] Churchill Book Collector 619.384.7992 www.churchillbookcollector.com This catalogue primarily features book-length works authored by Churchill and inscribed by him, including premium association copies, some of which have never before been offered to collectors. Churchill’s signatures in this catalogue span six decades of his life, from 1900 to 1959. There are a total of 47 Churchill signatures appearing in the 34 items offered. Soldier and War Correspondent, 1900 Items 1-2 Young Statesman, 1901-1914 Items 3-5 The First World War, 1914-1918 Items 6-10 The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939 Items 11-16 The Second World War, 1939-1945 Items 17-28 The Post-War Years, 1945-1965 Items 29-34 Browse or search our full inventory, including detailed descriptions and multiple images of each item we offer, at: www.churchillbookcollector.com The River War Signed and dated by Churchill in the year of publication 1 Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1900 This first edition, final printing of Churchill’s second book was signed by Churchill on 28 Decem- ber 1900, during his first lecture tour of the U.S. and Canada, for Major-General Sir Gerald Charles Kitson KCVO, CB, CMG (1856–1950), then serving as British Military Attache in Washington, D.C. The author’s signature in black ink in two lines on the Volume I frontispiece verso reads: “Winston S. Churchill | Dec.28.1900”. Signatures in Churchill’s early works are scarce, doubly so when dated and contemporary. The signature is in firm and more youthfully rounded script characteristic of his early signatures. The ink is mildly age-toned but distinct with minimal age-spreading. Four lines in pencil on the Volume I half title read: “Gerald C. Kitson | Military Attache | Washington | from the author”. The same words in the same hand are written on the Volume II ffep. Churchill was just 26 years old. In October he had won his first seat in Parliament partly on the strength of his celebrity as a Boer War hero, having been captured and made a daring escape. Chur- chill’s lecture tour was intended to improve his finances at a time when MPs received no salary. Biographical sources and contemporary Canadian press indicate that Churchill lectured at Ottawa’s Russell Theatre on 27 December 1900, leaving Otta- wa either late afternoon or early evening of the 28th (likely via overnight train), arriving in Toronto early in the morning of the 29th. Before he was British Military Attache in Washington, Gerald Kitson was Commandant of Canada’s Royal Military College. Kitson knew Lord Minto, the Governor General of Canada, who hosted young Winston in Ottawa. On 28 December, the British Government named Kitson Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (C.M.G.). This may have been the impetus for Churchill to sign a book for Kitson that day, and makes quite plausible Kitson’s presence in Ottawa, likely at Government House where Churchill was staying. In 1902, Kitson became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst (from which Churchill graduated in 1894). A still very 19th Century Churchill left this signature in his “tale of blood and war.” While Churchill was abroad, Queen Victoria died, and the end of her 64-year reign also closed Churchill’s Victorian career as a cavalry officer and war correspondent adventurer. Churchill returned to England in February 1901 to take his seat in Parliament and begin a 60-year career as one of the 20th Century’s great statesmen. 1 Signed or Inscribed by This first edition, third printing of The River War is not only the most scarce issue of the first edition, but also the last unabridged issue to this day. All three printings of the first edition (2,646 copies total) are virtually identical, issued respectively in November 1899, February 1900, and June 1900. Only 151 third printing copies were bound. This set is in very good plus condition, unrestored and wholly intact. The bindings are clean with bright gilt, trivial wear at extremities, and slight mottling on the blank Vol. I rear cover. Spine presentation is excellent - nicely rounded and unfaded with only minor wrinkling at the spine ends. The massive weight of the text strained nearly all surviving original bind- ings. Here the Vol. I front hinge is a little tender but remains firmly attached and the Vol. II binding remains tight. The contents show no additional own- ership marks. Very light spotting in Vol. I is primarily limited to prelims and page edges. Light Vol. II spotting is intermittent throughout. All illustrations, maps, and plans are intact, as are the protective tissue frontis- piece covers. The original black endpapers are intact, with no sign of typical gutter cracks. The set is preserved in a custom, half-morocco clamshell case with a nested, fully enfolding cloth chemise for each volume and a pocket for the set description. Additional detail and images upon request. Bibliographic reference; Cohen A2.1.d, Woods/ICS A2(a.3), Langworth p.29. [CBC#003151] $17,500 www.churchillbookcollector.com 2 Autograph booklet from the September 1900 Institute of Journalists annual conference in London Signed by a young Winston Churchill and 28 of his fellow journalists 2 September 1900, London This early and noteworthy signature dates from September 1900. It is found in an autograph booklet signed by 29 journalists attending The Annual Confer- ence of the Institute of Journalists in London, Winston Churchill among them. In September 1900, Winston Churchill was just 25 years old, a soldier and war-correspondent who had yet to hold elected office. On 8 September 1900, Churchill wrote to his mother, Lady Randolph: “My dear Mamma, I am sorry not to be able to come until Wednesday morning, but I thought it better to attend the Annual Dinner of the Conference of the Institute of Journalists, at which I have been invited to reply for the war-correspondents. It is a good thing now and again to make a speech unconnected with politics and it is also a good thing, and opportunity not to be missed, to speak before the writers of Great Britain. I hope you will make my apologies to Lady Sassoon. I shall have four days at Alvie before I go south to Old- ham, and I am looking forward very much to seeing something of you.” (R. Churchill, Companion Volume I, Part 2, p.1197) We have found no record that preserves Churchill’s remarks at the An- nual Dinner, but his autograph here certainly proves that he did attend.