Description
From the library of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Illustrious Men of the United States, inscribed and dated by Franklin Roosevelt, while President of the United States.
Sixteenmo, 96pp. Pebbled brown cloth, title in gilt with embossed illustrations. Solid text block. Period gift inscription on second free endpaper. Previous booksellers label affixed to front endpaper. Includes Franklin Delano Roosevelt Collection library card and bookplate (No. 1289).
Inscribed on first free endpaper: “Franklin Roosevelt / Hyde Park / 1939.” Includes brief biographies of 31 notable Americans, including: Pocahontas, William Penn, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Robert Fulton, Ben Franklin, Daniel Boone, etc.
President Franklin Roosevelt was an avid collector of miniature books, a hobby which began in the 1890s and continued throughout his presidency. A complete list of his collection does not exist, since the books were located at the White House, Hyde Park and Campobello Island. After his death in 1945, his collection was divided up between members of the family and the National Park Service at Hyde Park. The first part of the collection was sold at auction in 1951 by Hammer Galleries of New York. At the estate sale for Eleanor Roosevelt in 1964, additional miniature books were sold at auction. (The Microbibliophile, Volume XXXVII, Number 1, Issue 211, January 2018) (FDR’s Little Books, Weber).
