MY AFRICAN JOURNEY
-First English Edition-
1908
First English Edition
Hodder & Stoughton [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A27.1) (Woods A12aa)
8vo (242 pages, with 61 photographs, 3 maps, tissue protected frontis photo, 18-page rear publisher’s catalogue.)
Hardcover [Red pictorial cloth]
Item Number: 203938
$1,150.00
Collector's Guide
My African Journey is Winston Churchill’s travelogue account of his whirlwind tour of Britain’s East-Africa territories as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies; his first official government office. The book features eloquent and perceptive observations about Africa, and much big-game hunting, with young Churchill as guide. The first English edition is particularly coveted for its handsome cover woodcut of the author posed beside a trophy rhinoceros. The more plainly-bound American edition, which utilized English first edition sheets, has no woodcut on its brownish-red buckram cover, yet it is the rarer volume.
Description
This is a very good First English edition copy, with bright cover art marred by a smattering of light dampstain spots on the front face. The binding is square and tight, with sharp corners and a rounded spine that is decidedly less faded than usual but does have two tiny dents. There is toning to the free endpapers, front and rear, and an ink gift inscription on the second front free endpaper, dated “1908.” The contents are fine and unfoxed.