Description
From the library of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, three miniature presidential works from the Kingsport Press, including Addresses of Abraham Lincoln, The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge and Washington: His Farewell Address.
All bound in gilt stamped Niger morocco. Addresses of Abraham Lincoln (132pp), Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge (129pp) and Washington: His Farewell Address (142pp). Each book housed in the publisher’s cardboard box, descriptive labels on side panels. Lincoln Addresses is accompanied by a letter from the LXIVMOS society, a group of miniature book lovers, requesting Gov. Franklin Roosevelt send a letter of thanks to the Kingsport Press (Spielmann 103, 297, 508) (Bromer, 159) Housed in custom blue cloth chemise.
Each book contains the bookplate from the Franklin Roosevelt library, individually numbered. The Coolidge book is initialed and dated by FDR, the Washington book is initialed FDR and ER, in the hand of Eleanor Roosevelt.
President Franklin Roosevelt was an avid collector of miniature books, a hobby which began in the 1890’s 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).
