Description
Twelvemo, [two volumes], [3], 337pp, [32]; [8], 278pp, [30]. Three quarter red morocco, marbled boards, title in gilt with decorative raised bands. Gilt inscription at lower edge of spine reads: “For Dr. A.J. Woodcock / Riverside Farm.” Marbled endpapers in both volumes. Dust jacket remnant affixed to rear endpapers of both volumes. Housed in custom red cloth slipcase. Offsetting from newspaper clippings, now held separately. Original White House mailing envelope affixed to endpaper of Volume II, original letter of provenance from Roosevelt secretary in facsimile.
Both volumes are signed “Theodore Roosevelt” on the front endpaper, with photograph of Roosevelt affixed below signature.
Roosevelt began writing this book during his senior year at Harvard. He later noted that the first chapters he wrote at Harvard “…were so dry that they would have made a dictionary seem light reading by comparison.” Over the next two years, he refined this narrative and published the book at the age of 23.
