The Rough Riders.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore.

Item Number: 146231

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900.

Early printing of Roosevelt’s classic best-selling work. Octavo, original cloth,  illustrated, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of Roosevelt. Lengthily signed by the author on the front free endpaper as president, “In life, or on the football field, your motto should be – don’t flinch, don’t foul, hit the line hard! Theodore Roosevelt, March 30th 1903.” An exceptional signed book containing Roosevelt’s unique perspective as head of the Rough Riders, a special period that he deemed as his greatest achievement; after two terms as President, he still preferred to be called Colonel Roosevelt, and he considered the charge on San Juan Hill as ‘the great day of my life.’ The added quote by Roosevelt remains one of his most enduring. Although his nearsightedness kept him off the Harvard varsity squad, Roosevelt was a vocal exponent of football’s contribution to the ‘strenuous life,’ both on and off the field. As New York City police commissioner, he helped revive the annual Harvard-Yale football series after it had been canceled for two years following a violent 1894 clash. His belief that the football field was a proving ground for the battlefield was validated by the performance of his fellow Rough Riders, some of whom were former football standouts. St. Nicholas was a popular juvenile periodical that was issued monthly from November 1873 through March 1940. The May 1900 issue opens with an essay by Theodore Roosevelt entitled, ‘What We Can Expect of the American Boy,’ which begins, ‘Of course, what we have a right to expect of the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man. Now the chances are strong that he won’t be much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy.’ To make such a boy, Roosevelt summed it up with three traits: a strong body, a strong mind, and courage. The article concluded with what is now one of his most famous and inspirational quotes: ‘In short, in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard: don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.’ The front pastedown bears an affixed transmittal letter from Roosevelt’s White House secretary, dated March 30, 1903, which forwards “herewith the copy of ‘The Rough Riders‘ which you forwarded, in which the President has placed an inscription.” In very good condition. An exceptional inscription.

Colonel Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt founded of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry in 1898 at the onset of the Spanish-American War. Hostilities between the United States and Spain began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in Cuba, prompting intervention by the United States in the Cuban War of Independence fought against Spain. President William McKinley appointed Wood to organize the volunteer brigade, who in turn appointed Roosevelt as his second in command. Nicknamed the “Rough Riders” by journalists, the cavalry engaged in several battles and was made of mostly college athletes, cowboys, ranchers, and outdoorsmen from the southwest portion of the U.S. The term 'Rough Riders' was familiar at the time from Buffalo Bill whose famous western show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" gained popularity throughout the late 19th century. The Rough Riders remains Roosevelt’s best-selling work, and provides incredible insight into one of the most fascinating regiments in American military history. In very good condition, lacking plate opposite p 194, card stock applied to rear pastedown, abrasion to the front pastedown. Rare and desirable signed.