The River War
by Winston S. Churchill
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
San Diego, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1933. Hardcover. This is the first printing of the bibliographically significant 1933 edition of Churchill's second book in the scarce dust jacket. Originally published in 1899, The River War recounts Churchill's experiences and reflections concerning British involvement in the Sudan, including Churchills participation in the last great British cavalry charge. In 1933, a so-called "Second Cheap Edition" was made from plates of the 1902 edition with a bibliographically significant new introduction by the author explaining that "A generation has grown up which knows little of why we are in Egypt and the Sudan." There were ultimately five printings of this edition with at least seven different dust jackets issued (at least two for the 1933 second printing and two for the final, 1951 printing).
The distinctive illustrated dust jacket of the first printing (published in January 1933) was unique to the first printing. This copy approaches very good in a fair dust jacket. The purple cloth binding proved quite prone to fading, scuffing, and soiling. This binding is square and tight with sharp corners and strong purple hue, as would be expected of a jacketed copy, but with shelf wear to hinges and extremities and modest scuffing to the spine. The contents remain bright with a crisp, unread feel. All maps and plans are present and pristine. Very light spotting and toning is confined to the fore and top edges, the latter also showing mild dust soiling. The sole previous ownership mark is an inked name and date of 6.ii.33. on the front free endpaper recto. The dust jacket remains bright and substantially complete, but shows considerable wear and flaws, with shallow chipping and short closed tears to extremities, tape reinforcement to longer closed tears at the lower spine, lower rear hinge, upper front hinge, and the bottom edge of the front face. The spine shows a partial vertical crease and some spotting. The dust jacket is protected beneath a removable, clear, archival cover.
When this printing was published, the author once an itinerant cavalry officer and war correspondent during the reign of Queen Victoria was beginning his 1930s wilderness years which he was to spend out of power and out of favor, frequently at odds with both his own political party and prevailing public sentiment. Churchill spent much of the remainder of the decade vigorously advocating rearmament and collective security - a task in which he was persistent, eloquent, and largely unheeded. The end of the decade brought dark and unwelcome vindication; with the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 Churchill returned to the Cabinet and to war. By May 1940 he was Britains prime minister.
Churchills wartime leadership was certainly informed by the battlefield experiences and observations of his youth. In 1883, Mahdist forces of messianic leader Mohammed Ahmed overwhelmed British-led forces, precipitating British 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. General Kitchener reoccupied the Sudan in 1898. With him 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 in The River War, 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 fight and write and earned his early fame.
Reference: Cohen A2.4.a, Woods/ICS A2(da.1), Langworth p.33
The distinctive illustrated dust jacket of the first printing (published in January 1933) was unique to the first printing. This copy approaches very good in a fair dust jacket. The purple cloth binding proved quite prone to fading, scuffing, and soiling. This binding is square and tight with sharp corners and strong purple hue, as would be expected of a jacketed copy, but with shelf wear to hinges and extremities and modest scuffing to the spine. The contents remain bright with a crisp, unread feel. All maps and plans are present and pristine. Very light spotting and toning is confined to the fore and top edges, the latter also showing mild dust soiling. The sole previous ownership mark is an inked name and date of 6.ii.33. on the front free endpaper recto. The dust jacket remains bright and substantially complete, but shows considerable wear and flaws, with shallow chipping and short closed tears to extremities, tape reinforcement to longer closed tears at the lower spine, lower rear hinge, upper front hinge, and the bottom edge of the front face. The spine shows a partial vertical crease and some spotting. The dust jacket is protected beneath a removable, clear, archival cover.
When this printing was published, the author once an itinerant cavalry officer and war correspondent during the reign of Queen Victoria was beginning his 1930s wilderness years which he was to spend out of power and out of favor, frequently at odds with both his own political party and prevailing public sentiment. Churchill spent much of the remainder of the decade vigorously advocating rearmament and collective security - a task in which he was persistent, eloquent, and largely unheeded. The end of the decade brought dark and unwelcome vindication; with the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 Churchill returned to the Cabinet and to war. By May 1940 he was Britains prime minister.
Churchills wartime leadership was certainly informed by the battlefield experiences and observations of his youth. In 1883, Mahdist forces of messianic leader Mohammed Ahmed overwhelmed British-led forces, precipitating British 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. General Kitchener reoccupied the Sudan in 1898. With him 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 in The River War, 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 fight and write and earned his early fame.
Reference: Cohen A2.4.a, Woods/ICS A2(da.1), Langworth p.33
Synopsis
The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan is an 1899 book written by Winston Churchill while he was still an officer in the British army.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Churchill Book Collector (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 006347
- Title
- The River War
- Author
- Winston S. Churchill
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Eyre & Spottiswoode
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1933
Terms of Sale
Churchill Book Collector
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About the Seller
Churchill Book Collector
Biblio member since 2010
San Diego, California
About Churchill Book Collector
We buy and sell books by and about Sir Winston Churchill. If you seek a Churchill edition you do not find in our current online inventory, please contact us; we might be able to find it for you. We are always happy to help fellow collectors answer questions about the many editions of Churchill's many works.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Fair
- is a worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc....
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Cloth
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- Recto
- The page on the right side of a book, with the term Verso used to describe the page on the left side.
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...
- Crisp
- A term often used to indicate a book's new-like condition. Indicates that the hinges are not loosened. A book described as crisp...
- Remainder
- Book(s) which are sold at a very deep discount to alleviate publisher overstock. Often, though not always, they have a remainder...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...