Description
The Daniel Boone Edition of The Winning of the West by Theodore Roosevelt, with a manuscript leaf in Roosevelt’s hand.
Octavo, [four volumes], [xxvii], [1], 352pp, [map]; [vii], [3], 427pp, [2pp maps]; [ix], [3], 339pp, [map]; [xi], 363pp, [2pp ads]. Publisher’s half green levant morocco, marbled boards, raised bands, title stamped in gilt, “Daniel Boone Edition” in gilt on each spine. Marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, silk bookmark in each volume, detached but present in Volume III. Uncut. Solid text blocks, all appear unread. Free of restoration or archival repairs. Light sunning to the spines, as is typical with this edition. Touch of rubbing along margins of boards. From the library of Charles L. Gilcrest, with his bookplate on the second free endpaper of each volume. Frontispiece portrait with tissue cover in each volume, complete, with captioned tissue guards. Includes five fold-out maps, affixed to rear panel of each volume, printed on Japanese vellum.
(Wheelock, 13) (Cole & Vail, A11.1) (Howes R433)
From a limited edition of 200 sets, this being number 185, matching limitation in each volume. Includes a manuscript leaf in Roosevelt’s hand from Volume IV, page 18, regarding the failed frontier campaigns of Gov. Arthur St. Clair and George Washington’s decision to recall Gen. Anthony Wayne to command U.S. forces in the Northwest Indian War.
The original manuscript leaf reads as follows: [The newly created Government of the United States] “was very reluctant to make formal war on the northwestern Indians. Not only were President Washington and the National Congress honorably desirous of peace, but they were hampered for funds, and dreaded any extra expense. Nevertheless they were forced into war. Throughout the years 1789 and 1790 an increasing volume of appeals for help came from the frontier countries. The governor of the Northwestern Territory, the brigadier-general of the troops on the Ohio, the members of the Kentucky Convention, and all the county lieutenants of Kentucky, the lieutenants of the frontier counties of Virginia proper, the representatives from the counties, the field officers of the different districts, the General Assembly of Virginia, all sent bitter complaints.” [and long catalogues of injuries to the President, the Secretary of War, and the two Houses of Congress; complaints which were redoubled after Harmar’s failure. With heavy hearts, the national authorities prepared for war.]
This work was issued in full levant for $100 and half levant for $60. The full levant sold quickly, and the price was raised to $200 per set. The handwritten manuscript leaves all came from Volume III and IV, with the manuscript for Volume I now held at the New York Public Library.
