Lot 8
  • 8

Churchill, Sir Winston-Henty, G.A. For the Temple: a tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. Blackie & Son, [c.1891]

bidding is closed

Description

Churchill, Sir Winston-Henty, G.A. For the Temple: a tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. Blackie & Son, [c.1891]

8vo, presentation copy inscribed by the young winston churchill to his brother jack ("To Jack From his loving brother Winston S. Churchill"), frontispiece, 32 pages of advertisements at the end, original pictorial blue cloth stamped in black and gilt, green edges, worn, a well-read copy, hinges partially split

this appears to be the earliest known inscription in a book by winston churchill. Although the book is undated, the latest Henty title listed in the catalogue at the end is By Right of Conquest, which was issued in October 1890, so it is probable that this edition was published in 1891. It cannot, in any case, be any later than 1894 since the publishing office of Blackie & Sons in Edinburgh was closed by that date, and Edinburgh appears in the imprint in this copy.

In 1891 Winston Churchill was sixteen years of age, and Jack eleven. Besides its great significance as an early inscription by Winston, the book is further testimony to his great interest from an early age in the works of G.A. Henty (1867-1902). The historical tales by the popular Victorian writer were already lodged in Churchill's mind before his own early adventures in India and elsewhere, and may even have played a part in inspiring them. In later years Churchill borrowed the title from one of Henty's earlier works, A Roving Commission, for his own autobiography.