Description
The first edition of Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils, inscribed by President William H. Taft.
Octavo, ix, [1], 283pp, [1]. Blue cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine. Publication statement on copyright page states “First printed November, 1913, 2000 copies.” Light wear from handling, rubbing to tips of spine, solid text block. Top edge gilt. Lacking the scarce dust jacket. (Coletta, 168)
Inscribed on the front free endpaper: “For Mrs. William Hooper, with best wishes, Wm. H. Taft. March 10th, 1914. New Haven.”
The recipient of this book, Alice “Elsie” Forbes Perkins Hooper (b. 1867) was the eldest daughter of Charles E. Perkins, the president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroads. She married William Hooper, a financier from Boston, in 1885. Alice was a prominent socialite in Manchester, Massachusetts, often entertaining the Taft Family when they traveled through town.
