Ian Hamilton’s March - Winston Churchill’s Boer War Dispatches, 1900

CHURCHILL, Winston S. Ian Hamilton’s March. Together with Extracts from the Diary of Lieutenant H. Frankland, a Prisoner of War at Pretoria.

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900.

First edition, first impression, first issue of Churchill’s fifth published book and the second of his two volumes drawn from dispatches written for the Morning Post during the Second Boer War.

Ian Hamilton’s March takes up the story after London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, gathering seventeen letters written between 31 March and 14 June 1900. Churchill had become a national celebrity after his capture during the ambush of an armoured train and his dramatic escape from Boer captivity. Here he records the British advance through the Orange Free State and Transvaal, culminating in Pretoria and the liberation of the prison camp in which he had been held.

The book is named for Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton, under whose command Churchill served during the campaign. Their association endured for decades and later acquired another historical dimension through Gallipoli.

Only 5,000 copies were printed in the first impression, half the number of London to Ladysmith. The volume includes a frontispiece portrait of Hamilton after John Singer Sargent, nine maps and plans within the text, and a large folding map at the rear.

Original red cloth lettered in gilt, with black-coated endpapers. The binding remains firm and the contents are crisp and bright, with the frontispiece, tissue guard, maps and plans complete. There is a visible water stain and marking to the front board, reflected in the price.