Description
First edition of Clara Barton: Professional Angel by Elizabeth Brown Pryor, inscribed to U.S. Ambassador Ed Perkins.
Octavo, xv, 444pp. Gray cloth, title in gilt on spine. No additional printings listed on copyright page. Solid text block, a fine example. In publisher’s dust jacket, faint shelf wear, a fine example. Inscribed on the front free endpaper: “For Ambassador Perkins / Whose own historical perspective I respect very much. With admiration and affection – Elizabeth Pryor / March 1988.”
Clara Barton; Professional Angel was Elizabeth Brown Pryor’s (1951-2015) first book, released while she worked as a Foreign Service Officer in South Africa.
Dr. Edward J. Perkins (1928-2020) served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Liberia, South Africa, and Australia throughout his 25 year foreign service career. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan appointed Perkins to serve as ambassador to South Africa in hopes of fending off a congressional override to his veto of economic sanctions against the country. It was a controversial decision amidst apartheid in South Africa, and many Black leaders urged Perkins to not take the role. Perkins accepted the position and served until 1989, one year before Nelson Mandela was released from prison.