The Winning of the West.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore.

$5,500.00

Item Number: 146672

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899.

First editions of the first three books in President Theodore Roosevelt’s monumental work. Octavo, three volumes of four bound in half cloth with gilt titles to the spines, top edges gilt. Presentation copy, inscribed by Roosevelt on the front free endpaper of volume I, “James Carleton Young Esq with regards of the author, Theodore Roosevelt.” The recipient, James Carleton Young was a book collector known as the “King of Books” for his collection of tens of thousands of books, many of which were signed. In his later years, the volume and complexity of his collection required a full-time staff to catalogue and manage. Until his later years he would personally maintain an ambitious correspondence, sending on average over a dozen letters per day with copies of monographs to their authors requesting autographs. Despite having amassed a sizable fortune as a real estate mogul, the expenses incurred by his bibliomania eventually forced him to have his collection auctioned off by Anderson Galleries in New York. In near fine condition.

"The Winning of the West remains one of the greatest works of western history. . . . [It] reflects the character of its author. It is sometimes quirky and full of prejudices and blind spots, but it is cultivated and sweeping in its learning and encompassing in its judgments" (John Milton Cooper Jr).