CHURCHILL, Winston S.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Savrola. First British edition, first impression, a superb presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the initial blank, "To Major General Ian Hamilton from Winston S. Churchill Ladysmith Mar. 1. 1900".His military mentor and friend of more than 60 years, Ian Hamilton was one of the most significant figures in Churchill's life. Churchill first served with Hamilton, 21 years his senior, on the north-west frontier of India in 1897. As a friend of Churchill's mother, Hamilton helped obtain permissions for Churchill's participation in the India campaign, and the Boer War. Churchill joined the column commanded by Hamilton as it advanced through the Orange Free State to the Transvaal.Churchill inscribed the volume in Ladysmith the day after he marched in with British forces to relieve the city, after a two-month campaign which finally broke the 118-day siege. For him it was the greatest scoop of the war, and he devotes a whole chapter to its relief in his memoir My Early Life. There he wrote "the two months' fighting for the relief of Ladysmith makes one of the most happy memories of my life... [on 28 February] we all rode together into the long beleaguered, almost starved-out, Ladysmith. It was a thrilling moment. I dined with the Headquarters staff that night. Ian Hamilton, Rawlinson, Hedworth Lambton, were warm in their welcome. Jealously preserved bottles of champagne were uncorked... I rejoiced to be in Ladysmith at last" (p. 333, 341). Churchill sat next to Hamilton that n

• Printing: first

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.