The River War.

London: Longmans, Green, and Co.,, 1902. Churchill revises his tale of imperial conflict First abridged edition, first impression. For this edition (the second overall), Churchill shortened the text by a third but added a new preface and chapter on the destruction of the Khalifa and the end of the war. The book was first published in two volumes in 1899. "The River War is a brilliant history of British involvement in the Sudan and the campaign for its reconquest: arresting, insightful, with tremendous narrative and descriptive power" (Langworth, p. 27). In his abridgement Churchill also extensively revised the book to omit any criticisms of Kitchener and the British Army: "as a Conservative MP, he found it prudent to tone down his questioning of the imperialist adventure" (Rose, p. 61). Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine, and presidential candidate in the 1996 and 2000 US elections; his book label is loosely inserted. Octavo. Photogravure portrait frontispiece of Kitchener, 14 coloured maps and plans (6 folding), 8 sketch maps in text. Original red cloth, spine and front cover lettered and decorated in gilt, black endpapers. Light rubbing at extremities, endpapers a little toned, front free endpaper reinserted, rear hinge with superficial split: a very good, square copy. Cohen A2.2; Woods A2(b). Richard M. Langworth, A Connoisseur's Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, 1998; Jonathan Rose, The Literary Churchill, 2015.