THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE -Rebound First Colonial Library Edition-

First Colonial Library Edition [1 of 1,075 copies]. Winston Churchill's first book, a chronicle of true-life military adventures drawn from newspaper dispatches filed by the then-22-year-old correspondent while serving on India's Afghanistan-bordering Northwest Frontier under Major-General Sir Bindon Blood. Wrenching to read how little has changed in this region since Churchill's time. The First Edition is easily distinguished by its apple-green cloth binding but Malakand is prized by collectors in almost any edition. This is a very good rebound copy of the rare First Colonial Library edition, "intended for circulation only in India and the British colonies." The harsher climate conditions in the colonies generally resulted in low survival rates for these volumes. This copy has been tidily trimmed and rebound in simple black cloth with a hand-lettered inked spine label ( "MALAKAND FIELD FORCE/CHURCHILL.") The contents are fine, almost entirely unfoxed, surprisingly, with all maps present, as well as the frontispiece photo of Major-General Sir Bindon-Blood, including tissue guard. There is a discreet and quite artful former-owner initial ink inscription on the front free endpaper that reads: "E.S.E, Myore, 1898," as well as a tiny ink stamp from a Bombay bookseller on the half-title. A nicely preserved example of this rare and fragile volume. 8vo (337 pages, with frontis portrait and 6 maps, including 2 fold-out in color) (Cohen A1.2.a) (Woods A1ab).…