Books

London: Thornton Butterworth Limited, 1930. First edition, first printing, first state, second binding state. Hardcover. This is the first edition, first printing, first state of Churchill's autobiography. My Early Life sold very well at the time and has seen a great many editions since, many of them collectible in their own right, but of course a premium attaches to first editions. The challenge for collectors is that the plum-colored binding of this edition proved especially vulnerable to fading, soiling, and wear; nearly all copies are considerably spine faded. Moreover, the contents proved quite susceptible to spotting. Two states of the first edition, first printing are identified, with a list of either 11 or 12 Churchill titles in the boxed list of "Works by the same Author" on the half-title verso. With 11 titles on the half title verso, this copy is definitively first state. There were also a number of first edition binding states, bound in either a coarse or a smooth…

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.