INSCRIBED BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT TO ACTRESS KATHARINE CORNELL

ROOSEVELT, Eleanor. On My Own. New York: Harper & Brothers, (1958). Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. $2200.

First edition, early printing, of Roosevelt's post-White House memoirs, inscribed by her on the half title to famed actress Katharine Cornell: "Inscribed for Catherine [sic] Cornell with good wishes. Eleanor Roosevelt."

With On My Own, Eleanor Roosevelt's last book of autobiography before her death in 1962 at the age of 78, she movingly chronicles her active life after the death of her husband in 1945. "Convinced that 'when you cease to make a contribution, you die,' she remained at the center of American and global politics for nearly two more decades… She became a fearless international champion of progressive causes and perhaps the most influential American woman of the 20th century" (ANB). With 16 pages of black-and-white photographic illustrations. Early printing, from the same year as the first printing with code "K-H" on copyright page indicating an October 1958 issue. Edens B24. Recipient Katharine Cornell was one of the most celebrated actresses of the 20th-century stage in America, perhaps best known for her luminous performance as Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the 1930 premiere production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. Eleanor Roosevelt was an enthusiastic fan, having seen her perform many times over the years. In a journal entry for October 21, 1946, Roosevelt remarked that "Katharine Cornell is the greatest of the American actresses I know today—at least, I have been more deeply stirred by her than by any of the others."

Only mild rubbing to dust jacket spine. An about-fine copy.