Secret Papers of the Dutch Treat Club.

PROHASKA, Ray. [William Safire].

$750.00

Item Number: 128041

First edition of this book published upon the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Dutch Treat Club with a full list of members. Octavo, original pictorial boards, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by illustrator Ray Prohaska on the title page, “To Phil Safire Hope it won’t keep you awake. Ray Prohaska.” The recipient, William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and supported him again in 1968. After Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In very good condition.

The Dutch Treat Club is a society of illustrators, writers and performers based in New York City. Primarily social in nature, the club has had as members such leading literary figures and humorists as Robert Benchley, Rube Goldberg, Robert M. McBride, and Ogden Nash.