The dust jacket on this hardcover has smooth edges with no tears or chipping but does have some light soiling. Not price clipped either. Green hardcover is pristine, and pages are unmarked. The book is cocked just a tad forward too. But the copywrite page does have some black tape over the copywrite date and author's name. I have searched other copies on eBay and found the same problem. So, I suspect he never filed for a copyright like he was supposed to and perhaps the publisher used tape you had to lick and covered it up. Just my thoughts, however.Thus, the title page has a dark strip across part of the title and is also water rippled. But it is only that page. Chapter 3's first page also has a small tear too. Everything else appears to be in great shape.The author of this book was in Parliament in the UK and a personal friend of Winston Churchill. A lot of things happen to him from his drinking. But, in the end when he gets out of prison where he spent some time, he admits that it's the first drink that gets you and he learned it in an AA meeting after getting out. He writes about AA and some of the steps in the very end of the book, but never really says he was a real 'member of AA. He only talks about how well it can work for alcoholics. So, after reading that, I wanted to go back to the copywrite blackout on the copywrite page. He starts talking a few pages after 200 and the book only has 218 pages. Just bugging me why they black it out on so many of his books is all.Anyway, kind of a long drunkalogue, but he appears to be a fairly intelligent guy and did a lot during his life before prison. And, apparently, after prison. He remarried when this book came out and fought for a lot of good, moral causes in Parliament till his death in 1991.So I'm thinking he did stay sober.Well, please email with any questions.