FIRST EDITION OF THE PRICE OF FREEDOM, INSCRIBED BY CALVIN COOLIDGE—THE SANG COPY

COOLIDGE, Calvin. The Price of Freedom. Speeches and Addresses. New York and London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1924. Octavo, original navy cloth. $2000.

First edition of this collection of speeches by America's 30th president, inscribed to a Baltimore businessman: "To Albert D. Matthai with Regards. Calvin Coolidge." From the renowned Americana collection of Mrs. Philip D. Sang.

This collection of speeches reflects Coolidge's beliefs about conservative, limited government—beliefs that, according to some critics and scholars, owe much to the Rotary Club. A one-term president by choice rather than necessity, Coolidge was popular during his presidency despite a nickname—"Silent Cal"—that might have suggested otherwise. "Although the public liked and admired Calvin Coolidge during his tenure, the Great Depression that began in 1929 seriously eroded his reputation and changed public opinion about his policies… Coolidge's foreign policy also fell into some disrepute when it became clear that his signature achievements, including the Dawes Plan and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, did little to prevent the rise of Nazism in Germany or the resurgence of international hostilities. The peace of the 1920s faded almost as quickly as the prosperity. But Coolidge also led the nation, if passively, into the modern era. He was a bridge between two epochs" (Miller Center, University of Virginia). "Coolidge did not expect great things from government; consequently, he sought relatively little from it. This attitude seems to have been in tune with what most Americans wanted" (ANB). This copy is inscribed to and bears the bookplate of Albert Dilworth Matthai, a businessman from Baltimore. This copy was in the celebrated Americana collection of Mrs. Philip D. Sang until 1985.

Spot of soiling to preliminaries, light wear to edges of a few pages, cloth quite nice. A near-fine inscribed copy.