Ian Hamilton's March: A First Edition by Winston Churchill

Published by Longmans, Green, & Co., London, 1900

First edition, first printing. This is an exceptionally bright and tight example of the British first edition, first printing, first issue of Churchill's fifth published book. 

In October 1899, the second Boer War erupted between the descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British. Churchill, an adventure-seeking young cavalry officer and war correspondent, swiftly found himself in South Africa with the 21st Lancers and an assignment as press correspondent to the Morning Post. Not long thereafter, on 15 November 1899, Churchill was captured during a Boer ambush of an armored train. His daring escape less than a month later rendered him a celebrity and helped launch his political career.

Churchill's first book of Boer War dispatches, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, was published in England in mid-May 1900 and sold well. Ian Hamilton's March completes Churchill's coverage of the Boer War, publishing 17 letters to the Morning Post, spanning 31 March through 14 June 1900. The narrative in Ian Hamilton's March includes the liberation of the Pretoria prison camp where Churchill had been held.

Though a companion and sequel to London to Ladysmith, it is notably different in appearance, content, and scarcity. The first printing saw only 5,000 copies – half as many copies as London to Ladysmith. Where Ladysmith bore a lavishly illustrated binding, Ian Hamilton's March was bound in red cloth matching the style of Churchill's first published book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force – fitting, as these were the first and last Churchill first editions published by Longmans, Green, and Co.

While London to Ladysmith via Pretoria had swiftly published Churchill's dispatches in the wake of his capture and escape, for Ian Hamilton's March "the texts of the originally published letters were more extensively revised and four letters were included which had never appeared in periodical form" (Cohen, A8.1.a, Vol. I, p.105). Churchill effected these revisions while on board the passenger and cargo steamer Dunottar Castle, which was requisitioned as a troop ship, en route home to England. Arriving home from South Africa in July 1900, Churchill spent the summer campaigning hard in Oldham, where he won his first seat in Parliament on 1 October 1900 in the so-called "khaki election". The British first edition of Ian Hamilton's March was published just a few weeks later.

While the front board shows a water stain, this copy of Ian Hamilton's March is otherwise in very good condition. The contents are unusually bright with a pleasingly crisp, unread feel. The original black endpapers, frontispiece, tissue guard, and all maps and plans remain intact, with no reportable wear, soiling, fading, or blemishes.