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Churchill arranges publication of a short story set in the Boer War, in which he had recently fought. Despite his prodigious pen, Churchill wrote only three short stories - "Man Overboard" (1899), "On the Flank of the Army" (1902) and the posthumously published "Dream". "On the Flank of the Army" features a dashing Old Harrovian Lancer captured by the Boers and who later escapes (much as Churchill himself had done). Its central theme is the mutual courtesy and respect between Boer guerrillas and British officers. Churchill writes to William Henry Rideing, the editor of the Boston children's magazine Youth's Companion: "I have succeeded in writing the story you asked for. I hope you will like it, as I have taken a great deal of trouble over it, in rather disturbed circumstances". He continues, "I have avoided horrors and controversy and hope your Youth's Companion will not find anything he may not properly communicate". Rideing wrote to Churchill on 17 July 1901, "The more I consider 'On the Flank of the Army' the better I like it, and it seems to me to be equal to Kipling at his best. We are holding it back till next year so we may have the advantage of giving it prominence in our forthcoming announcement" (cited in Cohen, p. 1,316). The story was published in Youth's Companion in the US on 18 December 1902. It was published in the UK in the Windsor Magazine in March 1903. The latter part of the letter concerns payment. "The story is a little longer than was expected - 3600 words altogether which at my rate of £20 or $100 per 1000 words makes the price of the American serial rights £70". At the head is a note, dated 12 February 1901, the sum was agreed. Churchill signs in full, "yours vy truly Winston Spencer Churchill". Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine, and presidential candidate in the 1996 and 2000 US elections. Ronald I. Cohen, Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill, Volume II, 2006. Single sheet of thin paper on Churchill's Mount Street letterhead (253 x 196 mm), manuscript note recording that it was written in New York (Churchill was on his American lecture tour), handwritten in black ink on one side. Creases where folded with 10 cm split along central fold, toning and creasing more generally, still, given the thin paper, in good condition.
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