The River War, An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is the first edition, first printing, of Churchill's second published work, the lengthiest from his time as an itinerant cavalry officer and war correspondent during the waning days of Queen Victoria’s reign.

This first edition is not only compellingly written, but also physically beautiful. The two large, lavish volumes are decorated with gilt representations of the Mahdi's tomb on the spines and a gunboat on the front covers. 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.

This is an unrestored, intact set in the striking, original bindings. Condition is very good. The original bindings are often both significantly worn and broken loose from their massive text blocks. In this case, the bindings are square and tight, still firmly anchored to the text blocks. Moreover, there is no appreciable color shift between the covers and spines. The bindings show modest wear to extremities, mild concavity to the spine heads owing to the weight of the text blocks. Scuffs and blemishes are light with one exception; we would grade this set as very good plus if not for mottling spanning the vertical center of the front cover of Volume I, likely caused by incidental moisture exposure. The contents of both volumes are quite respectable, bright despite light intermittent spotting. The contents are collated complete, with all illustrations, maps and plans present. Consonant with the unusually tight bindings, the black endpapers are intact, with no splits. To each lower front pastedown is affixed the tiny sticker of the same London bookseller – “HUGH REES LTD”. The same previous owner name – surely the original owner - is inked on each half title, dated in his hand “Xmas 99” in Volume I. Laid into Volume I, on the aforementioned “Hugh Rees Ltd” stationery, is a lengthy “9th May 1929” purchase receipt, indicating that this set passed via the bookseller to “Rear Admiral C. M. Staveley”. Cecil Minet Staveley (1874-1934) served in the Royal Navy during the First World War, while Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. Staveley retired as a vice-admiral the same month he purchased this set of The River War.

Volume I of first edition, first printing sets often contains a publisher's catalogue bound in at the rear. Churchill’s bibliographer, Ron Cohen, speculates that copies lacking the catalogue were likely "destined for sale in either the American or other overseas markets." This set lacks the rear catalogue. We have previously encountered first printing sets, like this one, without the rear catalogue, but nonetheless clear indication of having been sold in Britain, as well as a review set of the first printing set lacking the rear catalogue.

The Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed, was a messianic Islamic leader in central and northern Sudan in the final decades of the 19th century. In 1885, General Gordon famously lost his life in a doomed defense of the capitol, Khartoum. Though the Mahdi died that same year, his theocracy continued until 1898, when General Kitchener reoccupied the Sudan. With Kitchener – to his vexation – was a very young Winston Churchill, who participated in “the last great British cavalry charge” during the battle of Omdurman in September 1898, where the Mahdist forces were decisively defeated. 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.

Reference: Cohen A2.1.b, Woods/ICS A2(a.1), Langworth p.29