My Early Life: A Roving Commission
by Winston S. Churchill
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
San Diego, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1943. Macmillan issue from first edition plates, third printing. Hardcover. This is a Second World War reprint of British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchills autobiography of his early life, published in 1943, during Churchills wartime premiership.
Churchill's extremely popular autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1874 to his first few years in Parliament, was first published in 1930 by Thornton Butterworth Limited. This was at the beginning of a decade the author spent out of power and out of favor, frequently at odds with both his Government and prevailing public sentiment. But in 1940, terribly vindicated by the outbreak of the Second World War and the failure of the leaders he had so long criticized, Churchill became wartime Prime Minister. And also in 1940, Thornton Butterworth went under and a different publisher, Macmillan, acquired the rights to several of Churchills books. Hence wartime reprints by Macmillan using the original first edition plates.
This Macmillan issue was a simple but handsome production, in dark blue cloth with gilt spine print. There were ultimately four Macmillan printings of My Early Life between 1941 and 1944. This copy is the third printing of 1943.
Condition is good plus in a good plus dust jacket. The blue cloth binding is square, tight, clean, and unfaded, with bright spine gilt. Nonetheless, we note minor bumps to the upper corners and some mild, unobtrusive mottling to the boards. The contents remain bright with a crisp, unread feel. Spotting is the chief defect, primarily confined to the first and final leaves with only occasional intrusions into blank inner margins in the main body of the text. We find no previous ownership marks. The dust jacket is unclipped, retaining the original lower front flap price, and complete with no loss. Moreover, shelf presentation is quite respectable, the jacket spine showing only mild, even toning. We grade the jacket as only good plus due to spotting, primarily affecting the front face and flap folds. The jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.
One can hardly ask for more adventurous content than the non-fiction (well, mostly) between the covers of My Early Life. 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.
'The earth is yours and the fulness thereof'.
Enter upon your inheritance, accept your responsibilities....
Don't take No for an answer. Never submit to failure...
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.
She was made to be wooed and won by youth." (MEL, p.74)
By the end of his own twenty-fifth year, Churchill had been one of the worlds highest paid war correspondents, published his first 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 Victorias reign.
My Early Life remains one of the most popular and widely read of all Churchill's books. An original 1930 review likened it to a "beaker of Champagne." That effervescent charm endures; a more recent writer called it "a racy, humorous, self-deprecating classic of autobiography." To be sure, Churchill takes some liberties with facts and perhaps unduly lightens or over-simplifies certain events. Nonetheless, the factual experiences of Churchills early life compete with any fiction, and any liberties taken are forgivable, in keeping with the wit, pace, and engaging style that characterize the book.
Reference: Cohen A91.6.c, Woods/ICS A37(d.3), Langworth p.139.
Churchill's extremely popular autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1874 to his first few years in Parliament, was first published in 1930 by Thornton Butterworth Limited. This was at the beginning of a decade the author spent out of power and out of favor, frequently at odds with both his Government and prevailing public sentiment. But in 1940, terribly vindicated by the outbreak of the Second World War and the failure of the leaders he had so long criticized, Churchill became wartime Prime Minister. And also in 1940, Thornton Butterworth went under and a different publisher, Macmillan, acquired the rights to several of Churchills books. Hence wartime reprints by Macmillan using the original first edition plates.
This Macmillan issue was a simple but handsome production, in dark blue cloth with gilt spine print. There were ultimately four Macmillan printings of My Early Life between 1941 and 1944. This copy is the third printing of 1943.
Condition is good plus in a good plus dust jacket. The blue cloth binding is square, tight, clean, and unfaded, with bright spine gilt. Nonetheless, we note minor bumps to the upper corners and some mild, unobtrusive mottling to the boards. The contents remain bright with a crisp, unread feel. Spotting is the chief defect, primarily confined to the first and final leaves with only occasional intrusions into blank inner margins in the main body of the text. We find no previous ownership marks. The dust jacket is unclipped, retaining the original lower front flap price, and complete with no loss. Moreover, shelf presentation is quite respectable, the jacket spine showing only mild, even toning. We grade the jacket as only good plus due to spotting, primarily affecting the front face and flap folds. The jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.
One can hardly ask for more adventurous content than the non-fiction (well, mostly) between the covers of My Early Life. 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.
'The earth is yours and the fulness thereof'.
Enter upon your inheritance, accept your responsibilities....
Don't take No for an answer. Never submit to failure...
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.
She was made to be wooed and won by youth." (MEL, p.74)
By the end of his own twenty-fifth year, Churchill had been one of the worlds highest paid war correspondents, published his first 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 Victorias reign.
My Early Life remains one of the most popular and widely read of all Churchill's books. An original 1930 review likened it to a "beaker of Champagne." That effervescent charm endures; a more recent writer called it "a racy, humorous, self-deprecating classic of autobiography." To be sure, Churchill takes some liberties with facts and perhaps unduly lightens or over-simplifies certain events. Nonetheless, the factual experiences of Churchills early life compete with any fiction, and any liberties taken are forgivable, in keeping with the wit, pace, and engaging style that characterize the book.
Reference: Cohen A91.6.c, Woods/ICS A37(d.3), Langworth p.139.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Churchill Book Collector (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 007574
- Title
- My Early Life: A Roving Commission
- Author
- Winston S. Churchill
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Macmillan issue from first edition plates, third printing
- Publisher
- Macmillan & Co. Ltd.
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1943
Terms of Sale
Churchill Book Collector
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed.
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:
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Bumps
- Indicates that the affected part of the book has been impacted in such a way so as to cause a flattening, indention, or light...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- 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...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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....
- Reprint
- Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...