Thoughts and Adventures: A jacketed first printing, first binding state of the Keystone Library issue

London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1933. Hardcover. This is a jacketed 1933 first printing, first binding state, of the "Keystone Library" issue, produced by the publisher from first edition plates.

Thornton Butterworth published the first edition in 1932. Less than a year later, in September 1933, Thornton Butterworth issued the "Keystone Library" edition from first edition plates. There were two Keystone Library printings (1933 and 1934) and a total of five binding variants or "states" (three binding states of the 1933 printing, two of the 1934 printing). With jacketed first British editions now rare and quite expensive, jacketed copies of the Keystone Library issue – which are increasingly scarce as well - make an attractive contemporary alternative.

This copy is the first Keystone Library printing, first binding state, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket. First binding state is confirmed by the dark green dotted-line grain cloth and blind-stamped title on the front cover (see Cohen, A95.3.a, p.390). Of note, this was the same cloth used by the publisher in later states of the first edition, first printing of November 1932. The green cloth binding is square, clean, tight, and unfaded with sharp corners and bright spine gilt. We note only light shelf wear to extremities and a slight outward warp to the front cover. The contents are bright with mild spotting primarily confined to the first few leaves and page edges. Differential toning to the endpapers corresponding to the dust jacket flaps confirms what the bright binding already tells us – that this copy has spent life jacketed. The sole previous ownership mark is a charming inked gift inscription on the front free endpaper: “To Papa Xmas 1933 | From Ethel | Arthur | Anne.” The dust jacket is impressively complete, with only trivial loss at the spine ends and corners. Moderate, uniform spine toning does not appreciably diminish the quite respectable shelf presentation. The dust jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.

Churchill’s collection of 23 engaging essays on an incredibly wide variety of subjects has been called "The broadest range of Churchill's thought between two hard covers". Thoughts and Adventures reflects the two qualities that so characterize Churchill's life - a remarkable breadth of both mind and life experience.

An original blurb for Thoughts and Adventures encapsulates – as far as is possible – the wide range of the chapters within: “These true stories concern such things as the tides that make a politician change his mind; the domination of chance in human lives; the cartoonists who mocked Churchill; the chances and events that occurred while he was in the trenches; phases of the war seen from intimate participation with the high commands; flying experiences in 1912; the Irish; the future; and contemporary change." In a 31 May 1932 letter to his publisher about the book, Churchill characterized it thus: "...although there is no one single theme, it has some of the best things in it I have ever written."

Reference: Cohen A95.3.a, Woods/ICS A39(ab.1), Langworth p.159.