Thoughts and Adventures by Winston S. Churchill - 1932

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1932. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This book is from the personal collection of Churchill's bibliographer, Ronald I. Cohen. This is a jacketed copy of the first edition, first printing in the scarce first printing variant binding. The treble attributes of superlative condition, variant binding, and provenance render this copy a prize.

Thoughts and Adventures is Churchill's collection of 23 engaging essays on an incredibly wide variety of subjects. It has been called "The broadest range of Churchill's thought between two hard covers" and reflects the two qualities that so characterize Churchill's life - a remarkable breadth of both mind and life experience.

The first edition, first printing is typically found in a coarse, khaki colored cloth unique to the first printing. It is this very copy that allowed Cohen to observe in his bibliography “copies… are also known in dark greyish green dotted-line grain cloth, the colour uniformly identified with subsequent printings. I consider that such cases are later binding issues of first printing copies.” (Vol. I, A95.1.b, p.383) Cohen cites only this copy. We have encountered few others, and this copy is by far the best-preserved.

Condition of this first edition, first printing, variant binding is near fine in a dust jacket approaching near fine. The binding hues are striking, the green hue dark and uniform, the spine and front cover gilt vivid. The binding is square and tight, the spine nicely rounded, the corners sharp. The cloth is nearly immaculate. We note only incidental shelf wear to extremities. The contents are bright with a crisp feel. Differential toning to the endpapers corresponding to dust jacket flaps further testifies that this copy has spent life jacketed. We find no previous ownership marks. Spotting is quite trivial and appears confined to just a few spots on the half-title and the otherwise clean page edges.

The dust jacket is unique to the first printing, with distinctive differences to later printings (and even some later first printings). This jacket is notably clean and highly complete, with only fractional loss to the flap fold corners and spine ends. The spine is only very lightly toned and scuffed, and consequently presents quite impressively on the shelf. The jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.

An original blurb for Thoughts and Adventures encapsulates – as far as is possible – the wide range of the chapters within: “These true stories concern such things as the tides that make a politician change his mind; the domination of chance in human lives; the cartoonists who mocked Churchill; the chances and events that occurred while he was in the trenches; phases of the war seen from intimate participation with the high commands; flying experiences in 1912; the Irish; the future; and contemporary change." In a 31 May 1932 letter to his publisher about the book, Churchill characterized it thus: "...although there is no one single theme, it has some of the best things in it I have ever written."

Reference: Cohen A95.1.b, Woods/ICS A39(aa.1), Langworth p.156.