"WITH LASTING APPRECIATION OF DEVOTED AND COMPETENT SERVICE AT FITZSIMONS HOSPITAL": SIGNED/LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF CRUSADE IN EUROPE, ADDITIONALLY INSCRIBED BY EISENHOWER TO HIS LEAD NURSE AT FITZSIMONS ARMY HOSPITAL

EISENHOWER, Dwight D. Crusade in Europe. Garden City: Doubleday, 1948. Thick octavo, original tan linen, cartographic endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut, original acetate, original slipcase, custom clamshell box. $15,000.

Signed limited first edition, number 468 of 1426 copies signed by Eisenhower at the bottom of his D-Day message to Allied troops; this copy additionally inscribed by him on the recto of the limitation leaf to his lead nurse at Fitzsimons Army Hospital in 1955, after suffering a heart attack: "For: Lieut. Lorraine Knox—with lasting appreciation of devoted and competent service at Fitzsimons Hospital in the autumn of 1955;—and with kindest regard and best wishes from her friend, Dwight D. Eisenhower." An exceptional inscribed association copy.

Eisenhower's memoir provides an important and unique perspective on the difficult command-level decisions that decided the outcome of World War II. On September 24, 1954, President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while vacationing in Denver, Colorado. He was taken to Fitzsimons Army Hospital, where he would spend the next seven weeks convalescing. During his time at Fitzsimons, his lead nurse was Army First Lieutenant Lorraine P. Knox, who devoted herself to his care. At the request of Eisenhower, the two remained friends after leaving the hospital, frequently exchanging gifts and letters. In one letter from March 1956, two days after announcing his plans to run again in 1956, President Eisenhower wrote to Lt. Knox: "There have been times, these past few weeks, when I could have wished myself back on the 8th Floor, under your care. Crossword puzzles are not as difficult a job as I had. D." Included are numerous battlefield and theater maps (a number in color), as well as photographic illustrations selected by Edward Steichen.

Slight edge-wear and soiling to slipcase, short closed tear to acetate at foot of spine; book fine. An excellent inscribed association copy, quite scarce and desirable.