Books

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1930. First edition, second printing. Hardcover. Originally published in October 1930, My Early Life is Churchill's extremely popular autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1874 to his first few years in Parliament. This is the first edition, second printing. The second printing was published in late October, only days after the October 20th first printing, and is virtually identical in appearance, differing only in the notation of the second printing on the title page verso. Of note, this copy comes with a substantial portion of its original dust jacket – also identical to that of the first printing. My Early Life has seen a great many editions, but of course a premium attaches to first editions, with jacketed examples being among the most elusive prizes in the Churchill canon. The vivid plum color of the binding and dust jacket proved incredibly vulnerable to sunning. Whether because of sunning, the fact that this popular book…

My Early Life is an autobiographical work by Winston Churchill. It covers his birth in 1874 to his first few years in Parliament.

First editions can be identified by the publisher's name Butterworth on the bottom of the spine and title page, as later editions were published by other publishers.