India. Speeches and an Introduction
London, Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1931(first edition, first impression, the primary variant with the horizontal spine lettering).
Octavo, 141, [3] (constitution and aims of the Indian Empire Society) pages.
Blind-stamped orange cloth lettered in black on the front cover and horizontally across the spine; cloth very lightly marked on the sides; minute hole in the cloth on the rear joint (clearly a material flaw); spine a little faded, with an unobtrusive library call number (954 Chu) in white ink near the tail faintly visible; later presentation bookplate on the front free endpaper (see below); notwithstanding, a very appealing copy, internally in fine condition.
Provenance: Lesley Kilmeny Symon (1885-1969), one of the daughters of Sir Josiah Symon (1846-1934), South Australian lawyer and politician; he was a member of the Australian Senate in the First Australian Parliament, and an Attorney-General of Australia (and much else besides). She gifted the book to St Ann's College (a tertiary residential college in Adelaide) in July 1963; the bookplate establishes the fact. When the book was recently deaccessioned, Ms Symon's name on the bookplate was partially blacked out. Her earlier ownership initials in pencil can still be made out at the head of the page. Cohen A92; Woods A38; Langworth, pages 148-153 ('among the rarest of Churchill's hardbound volumes, much less often seen, for example, than the "Malakand" or "The River War"'); Langworth (Amplified Woods List, second edition) A38(a.1). Woods records that an edition in wrappers was published simultaneously; Langworth notes that 'Softbound copies on the market today outnumber hardbound copies by at least twenty to one, which offers a clue as to their original print runs. The books were printed on pulpy paper, and it is rare to encounter a copy entirely free of spots'.
Item #122049
Price (AUD):
$2,750.00