THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE
-First Edition of Churchill's First Book-
1898
First English Edition (Second State) [1 of 2,000 copies]
Longmans, Green, & Co. Ltd. [London ]
Biblio: (Cohen A1.1.b) (Woods A1a)
8vo (352 pages, 6 maps, illustrations, tissue-guarded frontis portrait. With 32-page rear catalogue dated 3/98)
Hardcover [Apple-green cloth]
Item Number: 209851
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Collector's Guide
The Story of the Malakand Field Force was Winston Churchill’s first book, a chronicle of true-life military adventures drawn from newspaper dispatches filed by the then-22-year-old correspondent while serving on India’s Afghanistan-bordering Northwest Frontier under Major-General Sir Bindon Blood. Wrenching to read how little has changed in this region since Churchill’s time. The First Edition is easily distinguished by its apple-green cloth binding but Malakand is prized by collectors in almost any edition.
Description
This is an exceptionally good copy. The green cloth is vibrantly bright and unfaded, including the fade-prone spine. The binding is crisp and the corners are sharp. This is the Second State binding for the First English edition, per Cohen. The rear publisher’s catalogue is present, dated 3/98, and an Errata slip is present after the first folding map. (Frederick Woods’ original Churchill bibliography indicated two “states” based on the presence or absence of Errata slips. Subsequent research has indicated that no precedence should be assigned. A rear catalogue dated 3/98 does generally mean a later state than copies with 12/97 catalogues.)
The frontis portrait tissue guard is well-tanned, as is the rarely-seen tissue guard for the fold-out map opposite page 146. The black front endpaper has two tiny edge-chips and some beginning separation at the hinge. There is some darkening to the upper fore-edge. The contents are fine; entirely unfoxed.
Preserved in a handsome green half-leather slipcase with internal cloth chemise.