Description
The first trade edition of The War Message by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the scarce dust jacket.
Octavo, 64pp. Blue cloth, title in gilt on front panel and spine. No additional printings mentioned. Light dust remnant along top edge of text block. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $1.00 on the front flap, old tape repair to verso, chip at heel of the spine, bright cover illustrations. This first trade edition of The War Message was published on April 8, 1942.
(Halter T-743)
This first trade edition was accompanied by a limited edition publication of 100 copies, with number 21-100 for public sale. Letters A-T were bound in full blue morocco and reserved for distribution to “Members of the Cabinet and for presentation.” (Halter T-742) Halter notes that a “Special Trade Edition” was issued for the 50th Anniversary of Stix Baer & Fuller of St. Louis, limited to 500 copies, and precedes both the trade and limited edition. No copies have surfaced on the public market of this edition. (Halter T-741)
This work contains Roosevelt’s speech to congress on December 8th, 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent addresses relating to the oncoming war with Japan and the Axis Powers.
