SAVROLA
-First Colonial Library Hardcover Edition-
1900
First Colonial Library Edition
Longmans, Green & Co. [London, New York and Bombay]
Biblio: (Cohen A3.3.a) (Woods A3bb)
8vo (356 pages)
Hardcover [Blackish-blue on greenish grey cloth]
Item Number: 14230
$3,500.00
Collector's Guide
Savrola was Winston Churchill’s first and only novel; a statement of personal and political philosophy delivered as a work of dystopian fiction about dictatorship (with an astonishing relevance to our own dire present moment in time). U.S. publication preceded the British issue by roughly ten days, rendering the American first edition the true first.
Description
This is an original, unrestored, virtually mint copy of the exceedingly rare First Printing of the Colonial edition. It is significantly rarer than either the American or English first editions of SAVROLA. Bibliographer, Ronald Cohen states that no more than 1,500 Colonial SAVROLAs were produced for both the hardcover and the softcover issues combined. Moreover, the survival rate for these editions was quite poor due to colonial climate conditions.
This miraculous survivor, in its original decorated cloth binding, is virtually free of wear, retaining vivid color and just a faint reddish tinge to the rear face, no doubt picked up from an adjacently shelved book. The spine is only moderately faded, with very bright gilt type. The binding is extraordinarily tight and crisp. The original decorated endpapers are undimmed, and the contents are clean and unfoxed.
Truly unique thus.