Books

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1930. First edition, third printing. Hardcover. This is the first edition, third printing of Churchill’s only and extremely popular autobiography, published in November 1930, swiftly following the first and second printings of October. This copy is rendered exceptional by presence of the extravagantly rare dust jacket. The third printing dust jacket is identical in every respect to that of the first printing. The volume is nearly identical to the first printing, excepting only the printing history on the copyright page. My Early Life has seen a great many editions, many of them collectible, but of course a premium attaches to first editions, with jacketed examples being among the most sought and elusive prizes in the Churchill canon. The vivid plum color of both the binding and dust jacket proved incredibly vulnerable to sunning. Whether because of sunning, the fact that this popular book appears to have been widely read, or both, very few…

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.