Nov 21 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2687 -

Sale 2687 - Lot 262

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(WORLD WAR TWO.) Roosevelt, Franklin D. The War Message. 64 pages. 8vo, publisher's cloth gilt, minimal wear; internally clean; with original glassine wrappers, worn. One of 100, not numbered. Philadelphia: Ritten House, 1942
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Additional Details

First edition. The text of Roosevelt's three speeches delivered in the days following Pearl Harbor, including the famous words: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of Japan." The first 20 copies of this limited edition were presented to cabinet members and close Roosevelt associates, with the remaining 80 available to the public.

This copy has the limitation statement facing the title page, stating that it is "limited to 100 copies of which copies number 21 to 100 are for sale, and copies lettered A to T reserved for Members of the Cabinet and for presentation." However, it does not have the usual letter or number underneath that statement. A later edition was produced without the limitation statement.

We have traced nine of the limited edition in institutions or the trade: letters B, G, J, and S; and numbers 37, 39, 40, 41, and 53. Perhaps some of the later copies in the run of 100 were never numbered? The edition was released by 19 April 1942, when a copy was reviewed by the Capital Times of Madison, WI.

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