IAN HAMILTON’S MARCH
[1900]
(Cohen A8) (Woods A5)
The sequel to London to Ladysmith, this volume completes Churchill’s coverage of the Boer War, including the liberation of the Boer prison camp in Pretoria where he himself had been held. It describes the fighting march of Ian Hamilton’s mounted division from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg (Churchill rode a bicycle into “Jo’burg” a day before the army arrived) and on to Pretoria, where the author was able to help liberate his former fellow prisoners at the Staats Model School. It is, of course, indispensable to a Churchill library, and it has long been canonized among the more collectible Churchill books.
General Sir Ian Hamilton is of particular interest because of his long friendship with Churchill, which began with this adventure. Hamilton was one of the generals in charge of the fatal 1915 Gallipoli landings (though he never blamed Churchill for the debacle that followed). When Churchill sold his first country home, “Lullenden,” Ian Hamilton bought it, and they were still in touch when Churchill became Prime Minister during World War II. Churchill wrote one of the entries in the Hamilton’s privately published tribute to Lady Hamilton (Jean, London 1942, see Woods Db55/3). Although Ian Hamilton was out of print nearly for ninety years, it was recently combined with Ladysmith to form The Boer War, and is now readily available in that form.
An example of Churchill’s photographic memory (and willingness to store someone else’s good phrase for recycling later) is the title of Chapter I, “A Roving Commission.” Thirty years later, Churchill suggested this to Charles Scribner as an alternate title to My Early Life, but the words actually originated as the title of a pre-1900 Henty novel. (Young Winston was a devoted fan of the Victorian novelist.)
-Richard M. Langworth
From the Reviews
“In considerable degree, Mr. Churchill is qualified to do serious military writing. He is a man of talent, courage and boundless energy. He has seen real war as a soldier. He is practiced in observing, arranging and presenting military facts. His River War is one of the very best books on the reconquest of the Egyptian Soudan….Of course, Mr. Churchill had adventures in this 400-mile march: he has a talent for adventures. In one fight his horse bolted, and he was left on foot within close range of the Boers, the nearest cover a mile away. He was saved by a gallant trooper, who took him up behind, and who seemed to repent the deed when his own horse was killed by the explosive bullet. But we must not be tempted into relating the experiences of this enterprising young gentleman, and can only stop to say, further, that a very entertaining chapter, quite unrelated to the rest of the book, is a diary of a young officer as a prisoner in Pretoria.
—New York Times Saturday Review of Books & Art, 12 January 1901
Comments
In appearance this title looks more like a mate to Malakand than Ladysmith, being bound to match the former, but in red cloth rather than green. The rear adverts for Churchill’s other works are interesting in that they show how the totals were adding up: the Malakand was up to 7,000 copies, The River War to 3,000, Savrola to 10,000, the Ladysmith to 15,000. Not many authors could claim to have sold so many copies of so many titles before the age of thirty.
Appraisal
In value and availability, Ian Hamilton’s March closely follows London to Ladysmith. Although it wouldn’t appear to be as easily soiled as the latter, this is indeed the case, and most of the copies we have examined over the years are scruffy. A very good copy is a scarcity and a fine one is truly rare, selling for a huge premium.
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Editions
First Edition
Cohen A8.1a / Woods A5
Publisher: Longmans, Green and Co., London 1900
Dark red cloth with title gilt in blind panel with blind rule, ranged upper right; on spine, title, author’s name and publisher name gilt. 8vo, 432 pages numbered (2), (i)-(xiv) and (1)-409 (+7). Four of the unnumbered pages advertise other Churchill titles; they are sometimes followed by a 32-page catalogue of Longmans titles printed on thin paper. Folding map printed sepia, black and red facing page (411); other maps and plans. Frontispiece portrait of Ian Hamilton. Boxed advert for four other works by Churchill on verso of half-title. Black-faced endpapers. Published 12 October 1900 at 6 shillings ($1.50).
Quantities and Impressions
A single impression of 5000 copies was produced.
Dust Jackets and Variants
No jackets are reported but they are presumed to have been produced. A second state exists with different adverts. Rear catalogues are sometimes absent.
Comments
In appearance this title looks more like a mate to the Malakand than the Ladysmith, being bound to match the former, but in red rather than green cloth. The rear adverts for Churchill’s other works are interesting, in that they show how the totals were adding up: the Malakand was up to 7000 copies, The River War to 3000, Savrola to 10,000, the Ladysmith to 15,000. Not many authors could claim to have sold so many copies of so many titles before they were thirty.
Appraisal
In value and availability, Ian Hamilton’s March closely follows London to Ladysmith. Although it wouldn’t appear to be as easily soiled as the latter, this is indeed the case, and most of the hundreds of copies we have examined over the years are scruffy. A very good copy is a scarcity and a fine one is truly rare, selling for a huge premium.
Second Edition
Cohen A8.1b / ICS A5b
Publisher: Longmans, Green and Co., London 1900
Identical to the First Edition except for the following points:
Title page: for LIEUTENANT H. FRANKLAND read LIEUTENANT T. H. C. FRANKLAND.
Page 108: for “Maria Corunia Verecker” (mid-page) read “Maria Corinna Vereker.”
Page 109: five lines up from bottom, for “Hapton” read “Hafton.”
Page 128: seven lines up from bottom, for “Commander of the Bath” read “Companion of the Bath.”
Page 129: four lines up from bottom, for “lost my reputation” read “ruined my reputation.”
Page 299: in the italicized paragraph, for “Lieutenant H. Frankland” read “Lieutenant T. H. C. Frankland.”
We gleaned these points by examining Churchill’s own marked copy of the First Edition, prepared for the Second Edition, in the Forsch Collection at the Baker Library, Dartmouth College, and comparing it to another Second Edition, which itself divulges further alterations:
Title page: SECOND EDITION appears above the name of the publisher.
Half-title verso: unboxed adverts for the Malakand, River War, Savrola and Ladysmith. Of the seven unnumbered rear pages, six now advertise other Churchill titles instead of four. The additional title advertised is Ian Hamilton’s March itself, which receives identical blurbs on pages [411-12]. Each of these adverts is headed by the title, EIGHTH THOUSAND. This is in line with Woods’ statement that 3,000 copies of the Second Edition were pressed on 12 October 1900.
We cannot always accept publisher’s claims at face value. The self- proclaimed “Second Edition” of Liberalism and the Social Problem is, for example, merely a second impression. But this work has had enough changes to constitute a true Second Edition, and the changes demonstrate Churchill’s concern not only with accuracy but with English.
It would be nice to think this edition, so much about which is now known, has great value, but it does not. Its value is between a third and a half that of the First Edition, conditions being equal.
First American Edition
Cohen A8.2 / ICS A5ca
Publisher: Longmans Green and Co., New York 1900
Red buckram, top board title/author’s name blocked gilt and framed by gilt rules in the style of the American Savrola; spine lettered gilt with title, author and publisher name, top edges gilt. 8vo, either 426 pages numbered. (i-xiv), 1-48 (2) 49-409 (3) or 424 pages eliminating the last blank leaf (411-12). Plain endpapers, frontispiece portrait of Ian Hamilton, three-color (sepia, black and red) folding map facing page 410, other maps and plans. Published 1 December 1900 at $1.50.
Quantities and Impressions
A single impression of 1533 copies was produced.
Dust Jackets and Variants
Jackets are presumed to exist but have not been reported. Variations include copies with a 32-page rear catalogue, and with advertisements for London to Ladysmith and Savrola rather than Ladysmith and Hamilton.
Comments
This edition makes a nice matched pair with the American Ladysmith,but is much scarcer. Because of good quality binding and paper stock, it is often found in near-fine condition. A full-fine copy looks spectacular: a very desirable volume.
Appraisal
Despite one of the shortest press runs of any Churchill trade title, the American Edition remained in good supply until the early 1990s, but it has now definitely dried up and prices are already galloping. Always priced higher than the American Ladysmith, the American Ian Hamilton is on par with the First Edition.
Canadian Issue
Cohen A8.3 / ICS A5cb
Publisher: Copp, Clark, Toronto 1900
Pressed from the American plates and published both clothbound and in wrappers. The hardback is bound in tan cloth, with a unique design of crossed Union Flag and White Ensign in red, white and blue. The wrapper copy front cover is similarly decorated, but uses different title type (on both cover and spine) and adds a facsimile author’s signature ranged lower right; also, four vertical “batons” on center of spine instead of the Copp Clark logo and fewer endpapers than the hardback. The Copp Clark logos on the back covers/boards are identical in both issues. No adverts appear on half title versos of either work. 8vo, 424 pages numbered (i)-(xiv) and 1-(410). Plain endpapers, frontispiece portrait of Ian Hamilton. Three-color (sepia, black and red) folding map facing page 408, other maps and plans. Unlike the Canadian Ladysmith, this Copp, Clark issue has a unique cover design, which makes it the most beautiful of the Ian Hamilton Firsts. Nothing is known about quantities or dust jackets. Easily the scarcest among the three early editions, in either hardbound or wrapper form, a very good buy when obtainable. Not mentioned by Woods.
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Combined Work: THE BOER WAR
By 1989 (with the exception of the short-lived South African Ladysmith) Churchill’s twin tracts on the Anglo-Boer war had been out of print almost ninety years. Both were high on the priority list of the Churchill Centre, which launched a campaign in 1985 to encourage the return to print of a dozen long vanished titles. While ICS did not get new facsimile first editions of each, the texts of the Ladysmith and Hamilton were combined into the single-volume Boer War. Features common to all issues of this edition are as follows: text photographically reproduced from the “Collected Works,” Volume IV (see appendix); new foreword by Tom Hartmann; maps and plans from the Collected Works (redrawn). Not in Woods.
This work was formerly assigned “A149” in the ICS Amplified Woods list but, on consideration, it is not a separate work and is better considered at this point. This was not, by the way, the first time London to Ladysmith and Ian Hamilton’s March appeared in one volume: Harcourt, Brace and World in New York published a paperback with that title. However, its contents were taken from Frontiers and Wars, which is so structurally different that we have covered it under a separate heading under ICS “A142/1”; Harcourt’s book will be found there.
First Edition
ICS A4/5a
Publisher: Leo Cooper, London 1989
Black cloth stamped gilt on spine, plain boards. Demy 8vo, 408 pages, including a two-page appendix on the International Churchill Society at the rear. Sold at £14.95. Bulks 1 1/2 inches. Black dust jacket printed white, gold and red, photo of author in uniform of the South African Light Horse on front face. One impression, no variants.
American Issue
ICS A4/5b
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., New York 1990
Maroon cloth stamped silver on spine, plain boards. Demy 8vo, 408 pages, including a two-page ICS appendix. Sold at $19.95. Bulks 1 3/4 inches (45mm). White dust jacket printed brown, gold and black, cropped version of photo on A4/5(a). One impression.
Paperback Issue
ICS A4/5c
Publisher: Mandarin Paperbacks, London 1991
Pictorial color boards. 8vo, sold at £4.99. Photographically reproduced (reduced) from the Cooper Issue. One impression.
Second American Issue
ICS A4/5d
Publisher: Dorset Press, New York 1993
A remainder reprint of the Norton issue. Half brown cloth and red textured paper boards stamped gilt on spine. Demy 8vo, 408 pages lacking the ICS appendix. Sold at discount prices by Barnes & Noble Bookstores. Bulks 1 1/2 inches. First impression, September 1993.
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