Description
From the personal collection of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, An Essay On Criticism by Alexander Pope, signed by her in both volumes.
Quarto, [two volumes in single slipcase], xlix, 36pp, [16pp blank]; 43pp, [10pp blank]. Both volumes with light blue paper boards, white vellum spine, title in gilt on spine. Volume II is a facsimile of the original 1711 first edition of An Essay On Criticism, with facsimile of publication details on front free endpaper. Limitation page in both volumes notes that 250 copies were printed for William Andrews Clark, Jr. by John Henry Nash. Both volumes of this copy are unnumbered. Housed in publisher’s single slipcase, light toning and wear, title on spine. Both volumes contain a small bookplate, noting “Library of Franklin D. Roosevelt, No. 1498.” In addition to the bookplate, both volumes are signed by Eleanor Roosevelt, with a note that this is “her book, ER.” An exceptionally scarce work from the personal library of the Roosevelt family.
After the death of President Roosevelt in 1945 and before the Hyde Park estate was handed over to the National Park Service, many of the books in the personal library were distributed to family members. Some were sold at auction, beginning in 1951 by Hammer Galleries. Copies that were put up for auction by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt were all initialed by her for provenance.
