Description
The first American edition of Halfway House by Maurice Hewlett, inscribed by future President Warren G. Harding.
Octavo, vi, 424pp. Green cloth, title stamped in gilt. The first printing, with “Published June, 1908” on the copyright page. Top edge gilt. Faint discoloration to cloth on front cover, else fine. Internally clean, uncut edge. Bookplate of Nathaniel Edward Stein affixed to the front pastedown. Housed in a custom clamshell, quarter green morocco, raised bands, title stamped in gilt.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper to his longtime friend J. Fred Dombaugh, later the custodian of the Harding home in Marion, Ohio. The inscription reads: “To J.F. Dombaugh / with the Christmas greetings of one who thinks Hewlett the greatest living writer of fiction. / W.G.H. / Dec. 25 / 08.”
One of a handful of books inscribed by President Warren Harding, and only the second we’ve handled.
Warren Harding’s “discomfort with some serious book reading was shown by his brief exposure to the study of law” said a friend in 1920. He “prefers Maurice Hewlett to Bernard Shaw and does not care a nail paring for O. Henry…” (Downes, 1920, p. 10)
(Provenance: Christie’s, Lot 164, Estate of John F. Fleming, November, 1988)
