My Early Life: A Roving Commission
London: Thornton Butterworth, 1930. 1st Edition. 8vo. Good. Item #17783
A handsome yeoman's 1st Edition copy of this desirable Winston Churchill memoir, widely regarded as his most entertaining work, and in the scarce 1st State, with 11 titles listed on the verso of the half-title page.
In this work, Churchill covers his life from birth until approximately 1902, though he does mention his 1908 marriage at the end.
"The book was published after the Conservative Party lost the 1929 election and consequently Churchill ceased to be a member of the government. He occupied himself, instead, writing a number of books, which together with public speaking was his chief source of income throughout his life. However, most of My Early Life was written during the parliamentary recess in the summer of 1928. He wrote to Stanley Baldwin, "I have had a delightful month - building a cottage and dictating a book: 200 bricks and 2000 words per day." - wiki
The 1st Edition of this work was published in several states, differentiated between the number of titles on the verso of the half-title page, the type of cloth, and the number of lines on the front board. This piece is a 1st Edition, 1st State of the text, with a 2nd state binding, in the smooth plum cloth with five lines of text on the front board vs three lines on the select few earliest volumes printed.
Plum cloth. 392pp. Square tight binding. Clean interior, save for a contemporary previous owner signature to front endpaper, with a small five-digit number stamped above it. Binding with moderate rubbing and edge wear, particularly at the corners and spine ends, where there is some fraying and a loss of cloth. A few closed tears to cloth along spine joints. Corners a touch curled. Spine age toned. Lacking the rare dust jacket.
Overall a nice 1st Edition in better condition than many. Presents handsomely in a clear archival mylar dust jacket.
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