Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt within blind panel, front cover lettered in gilt on recessed panel, black endpapers. First edition, home issue, sole printing, first state. A superlative copy of Churchill’s first book, without the errata slip, the publisher’s catalogue dated 12/97. Churchill was correspondent for the Daily Telegraph on Sir Bindon Blood’s punitive 1897 expedition against the Afghan tribesmen of the North-West Frontier, during which he “took part in several skirmishes in which he came under fire and witnessed acts of barbarism by both sides” (ODNB).
He consolidated his reports into book-form on his return to Bangalore, and his account was published in March 1898. “A total of 2,000 sets of sheets were printed for the home issue, of which 1,600 were bound by the … publication date … 200 of these volumes were exported to New York” (Cohen), a number likely to have included this copy, with its contemporary American book-label. The errata slip, indicating second state, was available by April, and by the beginning of June 448 copies remained unsold. Of these, 46 were transferred to the Colonial Library in October the same year.
