LONDON TO LADYSMITH (VIA PRETORIA)
-First English Edition-
1900
First English Edition [1 of 10,000 copies]
Longmans, Green, & Co. Ltd. [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A4.1.a) (Woods A4a)
8vo (516 pages with 3 folding maps, 5 other plans and maps, 32-page rear publisher’s catalogue.)
Hardcover [Fawn pictorial cloth]
Item Number: 206954
$500.00
Collector's Guide
London to Ladysmith was the first of two Boer War volumes derived from Winston Churchill’s newspaper dispatches as a war correspondent in South Africa. It features a thrilling account of his escape from the Boers, an escape that would help launch young Churchill’s political career. The First English edition was published elaborately in fawn-colored cloth stamped with a striking cover illustration of the infamous armored train that Churchill was defending when he was captured. The American edition is an unadorned, though still handsome, red cloth binding with gilt lettering.
Description
This is a good to very good copy of the First English edition. The cloth has darkened considerably but the binding is square, with some fading to the spine type. An early-former-owner has scrawled his name in ink across the front face, though the ink is fading. The original black endpapers are present, with a tiny W.H. Smith Bookseller blindstamp on the front free endpaper. The contents are fine, with toning to the half-title, light foxing to the prelims and a front hinge that is beginning to give. Still, not a bad copy at all.