THE PEOPLE’S RIGHTS

THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS

1910

First English Hardcover Edition [1 of 100 copies]

By: Winston S. Churchill

Hodder & Stoughton [London]

Biblio: (Cohen A31.1.a) (Woods A16aa)

16mo (152 pages)

Hardcover [Deep red leather]

Item Number: 207580

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Collector's Guide

The People’s Rights collects six Churchill speeches from the 1910 General Election rebuking the Tories for their rejection of “The People’s Budget.” Originally published in simultaneous hard and softcover editions, the book is now rarely encountered in either format. In fact, this is probably the third rarest Churchill book after Mr. Brodrick’s Army and For Free Trade. It was reprinted twice in the 1970s, though even these reprints are scarce today.

Description

This copy of the rare first hardcover edition has been handsomely rebound in three-quarter red morroco leather over red linen covered boards, the spine elaborately lettered and gilt-tooled in six compartments with raised bands, the upper edge gilded, with lushly marbled endpapers.

In his Churchill bibliography, Ronald Cohen reveals that this hardcover (“cased”) edition consisted of only 100 copies, bound on 20 December 1909, two weeks before the softcover edition was bound. “It is, at least, very clear,” writes Cohen, “that only a few such copies were offered for sale and that they are extremely scarce.”

This is a beautifully preserved example of the First State, per Cohen (missing pagination for page 71, with an Appendix and Index at rear). The pages have browned, as per usual. The linen boards have very faint bubbling. The contents are otherwise fine.

Most certainly, in this hardcover format, the third rarest volume in the Churchill canon.