Landmark Books in All Fields
ItemID: #103478
Cost: $950.00

American Individualism

Herbert Hoover

FIRST EDITION OF AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM, INSCRIBED BY HERBERT HOOVER TO HIS HEAD OF THE AMERICAN RELIEF ASSOCIATION IN SOUTH CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER WWI

HOOVER, Herbert. American Individualism. Garden City: Doubleday, Page, 1922. Small octavo (5 by 7-1/4 inches), original blue cloth; pp. 72. $950.

First edition of Herbert Hoover’s resounding endorsement of American individualism and its pioneering spirit, published while serving as Secretary of Commerce, inscribed by him to Captain 'Tommy' Gregory, Hoover’s head of the American Relief Association effort in South Central Europe after WWI—“To T.T.C. Gregory, With Kind Regards of Herbert Hoover.”

Issued while serving as President Harding's Secretary of Commerce, this important early work by President Herbert Hoover represented, to historian Frederick Jackson Turner, clear "evidence of a mind seeking to adapt pioneering traditions to the problems of an industrial and urban age" (Hawley, 3). To many since, Hoover's "ideas—service to the community and equality of opportunity—reached fruition in American Individualism (1922). Hoover opposed sharp class differences and counseled a Jeffersonian meritocracy… Hard work, intelligence, and character should determine a person's place in the world" (ANB). On publication, reviewers praised American Individualism as a work that ranks "among the few great formulations of American political theory" (New York Times). With "First Edition" on copyright page; without scarce dust jacket. This scarce copy is inscribed by Hoover to Captain Thomas Tingey Craven (T.C.C.) Gregory, who was appointed by Hoover to represent the American Relief Association mission in South Central Europe following WWI. Vernon Kellog, in his biography of Hoover, said "soft-voiced, square-jawed Captain 'Tommy' Gregory… had been able to commandeer all the former military wires in the Austro-Hungarian countries for use in the relief work. So he was able to keep Hoover advised of all the news" (277).

Inscription bold and dark, text fine, mild soiling, faint toning to spine of original cloth. A near-fine inscribed copy.

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