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FOR FREE TRADE [Leatherbound First Edition]
A Collection of Speeches delivered at Manchester or in the House of Commons during the Fiscal controversy preceding the late General Election.
1906
First English Edition
Arthur L. Humphreys [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A18.2.a) (Woods A9)
8vo (136 pages [i-iv] v-ix [x-xii] xiii-xv [xvi] 1-118 [119-120])
Hardcover [Tan leather]
Item Number: 200274
Collector's Guide
For Free Trade has always been, in tandem with Mr. Brodrick’s Army, the holy grail of Churchill book collecting. A small, 136-page, softcover collection of nine speeches on the title subject delivered by Winston Churchill as a 31-year-old MP for Manchester, For Free Trade was published by Arthur L. Humphreys, General Manager of Hatchard’s, the renowned London bookshop that still stands at number 187 Piccadilly. Hatchard’s had a long history even then as a publisher of pamphlets, both political and otherwise, including Churchill’s earlier 1903 speech compendium, the aforementioned Mr. Brodrick’s Army. Identical in format to Brodrick and just as precious, For Free Trade was produced in very small numbers, bound in unprepossessing red printed wraps that did not age well. The surviving handful of copies (as few as 15-20 accounted for) today constitute the stuff of collectors’ dreams.
Description
One of the very precious few: A First Edition copy rebound in three-quarter tan calfskin over cloth-covered boards, stamped “Churchill Free Trade” in gilt on the spine. The original red card wrappers and the half-title are absent. The contents are in very good condition overall, the pages somewhat browned with age but almost entirely unfoxed. The title page bears the lone smattering of very light foxing, along with the remnants of a tape shadow near the lower left corner, and some short tears and edgewear. The verso of the final Preface page and the final page at rear bear faint red ink stamps that state: “The Property Of The Daily Mail Library.” Otherwise, this book has held up remarkably well.