This Item Has Been Sold
MR. BRODRICK’S ARMY
1903
Second English Edition
Arthur L. Humphreys [London]
Biblio: (Cohen 10.2) (Woods A6c)
8vo (104 pages)
Softcover [Red printed wraps]
Item Number: 212402
Collector's Guide
Mr. Brodrick’s Army is the holy grail of Churchill book collecting. A 104-page softcover collection of six Parliamentary speeches delivered by the then-28-year-old MP opposing plans for the expansion of England’s peacetime army, Brodrick 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. Humphreys and Hatchard’s would go on to issue Churchill’s 1905 speech compendium, For Free Trade, in an identical format to Brodrick, bound in unprepossessing printed red wraps that did not age well. The surviving handful of copies (fewer than 20 accounted for) today constitute the stuff of collectors’ dreams.
Description
This is an exceedingly rare intact copy in the original red wraps, with the spine professionally rebacked and the dimensions trimmed. The front cover is lightly rubbed, the rear cover has a few tiny chips. There is one spot of offset to the title page and very light foxing. A few rear leaves have been roughly separated. The contents are otherwise fine.
The book has been treated with a sophisticated paper preservative and is here contained in a handsome three-quarter leather solander with gilt spine titles. Laid-into the solander is a a contemporaneous vintage leaflet produced by the Liberal Party’s publication department opposing Brodrick’s scheme: The Abandoned Army Corps. A Study in ‘How Not to Do It.’
Provenance: From the collection of Steve Forbes.