Description
The author, Nan Britton’s, personal copy of her book, The President’s Daughter, with her bookplates and ownership signature.
Octavo, v, [3], [439pp], [3]. pp. Black cloth, title in gilt on spine and front cover. The first state, with “Six Burly Men” as a cancel on the front free endpaper and the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson opposite the copyright page. Complete with frontispiece portrait and 37 illustrated leaves. Solid text block, internally clean. Front hinge starting, wear at head and heel of the spine. Notable abrasion along top edge of rear board.
In the publisher’s dust jacket, tissue repair to verso of front flap, chipping along edges, faint soiling across all boards. Housed in a custom blue cloth clamshell, title stamped in gilt on the black morocco label.
This copy includes the personal bookplate of Nan Britton on the front and rear pastedowns. Additional signed on the front free endpaper: “Property – Nan Britton.”
(Martin / Goehlert 7836) (Frederick, 3188)
The President’s Daughter marked the first time that a presidential mistress published her story for the public. Nan Britton (1896-1991) alleged in the book that President Warren G. Harding was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing. With Harding’s untimely death in 1923, he was unable to personally confirm or deny the scandal, but his family denied the allegation for years. Britton wrote a second book about the affair in 1932, titled “Honesty or Politics.” In 2015, Britton’s claim was confirmed using DNA testing. Nan Britton died in 1991 and her daughter, Elizabeth, died in 2005.
