March 18, 2015

Finest Hour 160, Autumn 2013

Page 58

By Ronald I Cohen


In the citation for Churchill’s 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature, Swedish novelist and poet Sigfrid Siwertz said that our author’s “political and literary achievements are of such magnitude that one is tempted to resort to portray him as a Caesar who also has the gift of Cicero’s pen.” The Swedish Academy had Churchill’s historical oeuvre in mind, not his works of fiction, of which there were only three. Of these Savrola was the only production of book-length.

In mid-career, Churchill seemed anxious to forget his early fling with novel writing. In 1929, a Toronto re- porter who had never heard of Savrola asked if he’d ever thought of writing fiction. “Not much,” WSC replied—“I wrote a novel once.” “What happened to it?” the reporter inquired, and recorded Churchill’s reply: “‘I don’t know,’ in the tone of voice people employ when they say ‘lost at sea.’”

2024 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 41st International Churchill Conference. London | October 2024
More

Those whose only familiarity with Savrola comes from Churchill’s charming and humorous autobiography My Early Life may have been similarly misled. Alluding to his novel, published thirty years earlier Churchill wrote in self-reproach: “I have consistently urged my friends to abstain from reading it.”

The consistency of this perhaps feigned lack of enthusiasm surfaced again in the 1956 Random House edition where, in a new foreword, Churchill described his trepidation when it was first published. He then added that the intervening fifty-five years “have somewhat dulled though certainly not changed my sentiments on this point.”

Although Savrola was Churchill’s third published book, it was the first one that he undertook and the second that he completed. He had already finished five chapters, about one-quarter of the text, when he set it aside on his return to Bangalore at the end of August 1897 to begin work on The Story of the Malakand Field Force.

Churchill’s youthful enthusiasm for Affairs of State (the working title for Savrola) was reflected in a letter to his mother on 24 August 1897: “It is far and away the best thing that I have ever done.” He maintained this attitude throughout the writing. On 24 November, still six weeks away from sending off the Malakand manuscript, he admitted that his novel “filled & still fills my mind.”

On 9 February 1898, admitting to his mother that Savrola was still only half finished, he said he was “trying to develop in the mouth of my hero a cheery but I believe a true philosophy…it takes much thought.” A fortnight later he reported that the novel was “forging slowly along, and I like it better every day.” If the Malakand were successful, he added in March, “I shall follow it by the novel which a v[er]y little more work will complete, though I intend to polish it till it glitters.”

On 25 April 1898, WSC again wrote Lady Randolph: “It is a wild and daring book tilting recklessly here and there and written with no purpose whatever, but to amuse,” he wrote. “This I believe it will do. I have faith in my pen. I believe the thoughts I can put on paper will interest & be popular with the public.”

To his Aunt Leonie, he wrote a few days later that Affairs of State “appeals to all tastes from philosophical to bloodthirsty and is full of wild adventures and atheistic philosophy.” In June, the text was done.

Churchill’s goal for Savrola was reflected in the following words from his original unpublished Preface (see page 60 for full text): “The object of these pages is only to amuse. Like the perfect dinner they should be agreeable at the time and never cause a thought afterwards….I have written what would please me to read.”

First Published in the U.S.

A.P. Watt, Churchill’s literary agent, was concerned early on to secure copyright protection for Savrola in the United States. American copyright laws of the day had more stringent requirements for foreign authors. I expect that then-existing copyright law (which required a foreign-authored book to be manufactured in the U.S. to ensure copyright protection there) motivated Watt to insist that Longmans Green, the British publisher, print the work in Norwood, Massachusetts rather than London.

British publishers were likely not as aware of American copyright law as Watt: In a letter of mild protest to Watt on 27 March 1899, publisher Charles Longman wrote: “If Mr Churchill makes a point of it, we are willing to set the type of his novel in America. Our own opinion is that it is hardly necessary and if the book were our own property solely we should not do so.”

Contract and Serialization

In an agreement signed on 17 March 1899, Longmans Green acquired the exclusive right of printing and publishing the book in Britain, its colonies and the U.S. All rights of translation and dramatization, and the right to publish the work in English in Europe, were reserved to the author. The work would be published at 6 shilllings in Britain; Churchill would receive a royalty of 15% on the first 1000 copies and 20% on all sales thereafter. Longmans agreed to produce an American and a colonial edition, the prices of which were at the publisher’s discretion. Churchill would receive a royalty of 15% of the American nominal selling price and threepence on each colonial copy sold. There was no advance paid against royalties.

Longmans agreed to publish the book anytime between 31 January and 28 February 1900. However, the publisher provided itself with an “out” by requiring Churchill to submit a “complete copy in time to enable” them to meet the deadline. The publisher also promised to secure the British and American copyrights in the name of the author.

First Appearance (Cohen C73a-d)

Since Churchill had arranged for serialization of the novel in Macmillan’s Magazine, Longmans agreed not to publish on either side of the Atlantic until serialization was complete. This was perhaps of more concern to Macmillan’s Magazine than to Longmans but, in the event, it was the arrangement that Watt concluded with both parties. In his letter to Watt of 24 March 1899, Macmillan’s editor wrote:

I am obliged to you for your letter, and for the assurance which it gives me that Mr. Churchill’s story will not be published elsewhere in any form until after its conclusion in this magazine. The story will be commenced, according to my original intention, in the May number, which begins the new half-yearly volume. The month of its conclusion it is of course not easy to determine so exactly, but you will be safe in making your arrangements for its publication in book form in January, 1900.

Savrola was serialized in Macmillan’s Magazine between May and December 1899. Decades later, when the author was rather better known, it was serialized over three months in the Sunday Dispatch in 1942 and again in 1954-55. It was also published in three parts in France Illustration Littéraire et Théâtrale (February-April 1948), where it was described as “Roman inédit de Winston Churchill” (“Unpublished Novel by Winston Churchill”). That perhaps led to the French paperback in August 1948.

First Edition (Cohen A3.1.a-c)

In deference to the serialization, Savrola was not published in book form in Boston until circa 1 February 1900. The book included a surprisingly brief two-sentence Prefatory Note by the author: “Since its first reception [in Macmillan’s ] was not unfriendly, I resolved to publish it as a book, and I now submit it with considerable trepidation to the judgment or clemency of the public.”

The reviewer in the New York Times Saturday Review was more generous than the author: “…his trepidation is quite needless, for he has written an original and clever book, sufficiently unique to give a distinctly new flavor to the jaded tastes of novel readers.” A second printing of the American first edition is known in both the deep purplish blue cloth of the first printing and a variant binding of deep red cloth.

British Issue (A3.2.a-b)

Printed from American edition plates, Savrola was published in London on 12 February 1900. There are two states of this issue. The first has the customary copyright information on the title page verso; the second has a blank title page verso. There were 1500 copies of the first state. I consider that there were 550 copies of the second state, all of which were transferred from their originally intended colonial issue designation.

There were three additional printings of the British issue in 1900, all of which include the words NEW IMPRESSION above the name of the publisher on the title page. (There is no way to distinguish these individual printings.) In all, 3200 copies of the later impressions were offered for sale. I know of only one copy (one of the “new impression” copies) in its original dust jacket.

Colonial Issue (A3.3.a-c)

The first Colonial Library issue of 1500 copies was printed on 30 January 1900. The hardback cover used a standard design: a schooner at sea toward the top, below the words “Longmans Colonial Library”; a central panel with the name of the book, and, toward the bottom, some sea-flowers tied with a ribbon bearing the author’s name appears. Publisher records are uncertain as to how many of these were cased (hardbound) and how many were in wrappers. Two further printings followed: 2000 on 10 February and 1000 on 20 February. Of the total of 4500 Colonial Library copies, 1670 were cased, 2280 were in wrappers (of which 2244 were offered for sale), and 550 were transferred back to the home issue to meet increased demand. Of the (net) 3950 Colonial Library issue, 250 were assigned to the Canadian Issue (below).

Colonial issues are scarcer than these numbers suggest, particularly the perishable wrappers copies. The second and third printings bear the words NEW IMPRESSION above the publisher’s name on the title page.

Canadian Issue (A3.4)

Published by Copp Clark in Toronto, this issue, from Colonial Library sheets, is the scarcest of all. Only 250 were printed. Its front cover was the same as the Longmans Colonial Library issue.

Newnes Edition (A3.5)

Since the rights to publish Savrola in Britain belonged to Longmans Green, its agreement had to be secured before Newnes could publish its attractively-wrapped sixpenny edition for the popular market. The deal was made when Watt agreed that Longmans “should receive one-fifth of any payments [to Churchill].” The term of the arrangement was initially three years, continuing thereafter until six months notice was provided by either party to the other.

Churchill was to receive a royalty of a penny per copy and an advance of £275 against those royalties on the date of publication, which was during the week of 10 May 1908. Of that sum, £55 was paid to Longmans and a further 10% to Watt, as Churchill’s agent. The rights finally reverted in February 1925.

Hodder & Stoughton Sevenpenny Library Edition (A3.6)

Initial discussions about a sevenpenny edition were with Nelson, but it was Hodder & Stoughton, publisher of Churchill’s My African Journey (1908), Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909) and The People’s Rights (1910), that won the day. This contract, signed 22 March 1915, included an advance to the author of £50 against a royalty of three farthings per copy sold (surely Churchill’s smallest royalty ever). This edition was published during the week of 20 June 1915: a single printing of 25,000 copies, almost all of which were sold in 1915-16.

There are two states of the H&S edition. In the first, there is no date of publication on the title page; in the second, “1915” is added above the name of the publisher.

French Illustrated Edition

In my view, there is no more beautiful edition of Churchill’s works than the French edition of Savrola, published on 15 February 1950 by À la voile latine in Monaco. (Many of its illustrations were featured on the cover and internally in FH 74, First Quarter 1992.)

Illustrated by André Collot (more widely known for his erotic art), the edition of 1000 copies was printed by J. Dumoulin in Paris. The first 950 copies, all numbered, were printed on vellum (numbered 1-50) or linen paper from Papeteries Lafuma, Voiron (numbered 51-950). The remaining fifty copies (numbered H C 1-50, i.e. “Hors commerce”) were not commercially sold; they were reserved for the author, the illustrator, the publishers and their collaborators. Copies 1-50 and the “Hors commerce” copies include a combination of Collot’s suite of black-and-white illustrations and, to a limited extent, original sketches and designs.

Other Editions and Translations

The second American edition of Savrola, published by Random House on 16 April 1956, became a one-hour teleplay (overleaf). A year later, Beacon published the second British paperback. Its lurid cover, reminiscent of the 1915 Hodder & Stoughton Sevenpenny dust jacket, is in marked contract with the sedate photograph of Churchill’s back as he gazes at his Chartwell pond, on the Random House edition’s dust jacket.

In February 1973, at the request of the London & Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, Cedric Chivers published a new cased edition of the novel as a part of the New Portway non-fiction list. In June 1976, Amereon House of Mattituck, New York, photographically reproduced a new issue of the second American edition, and, finally, in April 1990, Leo Cooper, which had brought a number of Churchillian titles back into print over a two-year period, released a new issue, off-printed from the Savrola volume V in the 1974 Collected Works.

There was also foreign interest in Savrola, which has been translated into Danish, Finnish, French, German, Spanish and Swedish. Until recently, I believed the first translation was that of the Finns: Kansa Nousee, published by Karisto in Helsinki in 1916—the first translation of a n y Churchill book into a foreign language. But it has since been reported to me that there was a Chinese translation in 1915.

The Dramatization

The new American edition was adapted for the relatively new medium of television as a one-hour teleplay,  produced as an episode of the American afternoon program “Matinee Theater.” Shot live and in colour, it was broadcast by NBC from noon to 1 pm on 15 November 1956. It starred none other than Sarah Churchill, playing the female lead of “Lucile,” Savrola’s heroine. As the reviewer in Variety (a trade magazine) said,

Little did Sir Winston know that 60 years after he wrote his first and only novel it would be televised in color with his daughter cast as a pawn to help put down a rebellion against constituted authority, albeit a dictatorship….In the “Matinee Theatre” collection of hour plays it must be ranked in the forefront for qualitative production, exemplary acting and inspired direction….Miss Churchill seemed quite content to underplay the part but with precisioned artistry and rarely raised her voice. Her dad will be sent the lenticular film and he’ll undoubtedly approve her handling of the role that came out of his own quill.

The reviewer in Hollywood Reporter (the other major daily trade magazine) was equally complimentary: “Sir Winston should be proud of his daughter Sarah’s performance.” Literary critics and historians since have suggested that Churchill could be proud of his novel, too. It represents his youthful ideals, goals and visions as he set out in life, from which he never deviated.


Mr. Cohen’s Bibliography of the Writings of Sir Winston Churchill (2006) received The Churchill Centre’s Farrow Award. In addition to writing our Bibliography column, he is co-founder and president of the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Ottawa and a senior fellow on the faculty of Public Affairs, Carleton University.

A tribute, join us

#thinkchurchill

Subscribe

WANT MORE?

Get the Churchill Bulletin delivered to your inbox once a month.