Franklin D. Roosevelt

Signed book: The Democratic Book, 1936. Limited edition, numbered 1146 of an unspecified limitation. Gilt-stamped leatherbound hardcover, 11.5 x 14.5, 384 pages. Signed on the beautifully designed colophon in fountain pen by Roosevelt below a watercolor vignette of the White House. The original owner’s name, “H. W. Rohl,” is also stamped on the cover. Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG+/None, with minor edgewear to leather. Accompanied by a custom-made clamshell box.
A lavishly produced promotional ‘year book’ for the Democratic Party, this volume contains features on accomplishments by Democrats, images of FDR’s cabinet, and ads. The selling of advertising space—and the selling of the book itself to corporations, at $250 per copy—aroused much controversy at the time, and objections were raised that these de facto corporate contributions violated the Corrupt Practices Act which prohibited corporations from contributing to national campaigns. The owner of this example, Hans Wilhelm Rohl, was a German spy who collaborated with American officer Col. Theodore Wyman, Jr., to receive numerous contracts for US Army construction projects, including installations at Pearl Harbor. In 1944, a Congressional committee found that Rohl's possibly deliberate 'mismanagement' had delayed the installation of an aircraft warning system that would have detected the approach of Japanese planes in the Pearl Harbor attack. An impressive and substantial book with a gorgeous signed page, and interesting association with World War II.

Format: Book