“HE POSSESSED THE GIFT OF WORDS”: HANDSOME SET OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S WORKS, 1903

ROOSEVELT, Theodore. Works. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903. Fourteen volumes. Small octavo, contemporary three-quarter red morocco, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut. $5000.

“Prairie” edition of selected writings by the adventurous 26th president of the United States, each volume with a frontispiece illustration.

Includes a selection of Roosevelt's most important histories, essays and hunting stories published up to the year 1903, including The Naval War of 1812 and The Winning of the West. While a student at Harvard, Roosevelt "published (with a friend) a paper of professional quality on birds of the Adirondacks and wrote a senior thesis that called for limited voting rights for women and their 'most absolute equality' in marriage. He also wrote the first two chapters of The Naval War of 1812 (1882), a work of meticulous scholarship acclaimed in British and American naval circles alike… By Roosevelt's graduation the qualities that were to attract, repel, or bemuse his countrymen for four decades became pronounced. He abounded in physical and mental energy, acted often on impulse and at times on shrewd calculation, and generally exuded warmth, affection, and charm. He possessed the gift of words, though he limited their flow with difficulty; and even when he was moralizing, his force and imagery made him unfailingly interesting" (ANB). Wheelock, 5.

Scattered light foxing; contemporary morocco handsome. Near-fine condition.