Books

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1902. Hardcover. This is the first one-volume edition of Churchill's second book. The River War was originally published as a two-volume edition in 1899. In 1902 Churchill (by then a new member of Parliament) revised and abridged his text, excising much of the criticism of Kitchener for political reasons. There is also a new Preface. For the next 120 years, every one of the many subsequent editions of The River War was based on this 1902 text. This first one-volume edition had only a single printing of just 1,003 copies and so is considerably scarcer than the first edition. This edition has the same distinctive gilt decoration of the Mahdi's Tomb and gunboat as the first edition, but is bound in red cloth. This copy is in good plus condition, entirely original and unrestored. The illustrated red cloth binding shows some wear to extremities, mild spine toning, and light overall scuffing and soiling, with a single black mark below the author’s name…

The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan (1899), by Winston Churchill, is a history of the British imperial involvement in the Sudan and the campaign to reconquer the Sudan following the defeat of the revolt led by the Mahdist leader, Muhammad Ahmad.