"AN AUTHORITATIVE ACCOUNT… OF NAVAL AFFAIRS, MUCH OF IT IN THE FORM OF PERSONAL REMINISCENCES": GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON JR.'S PERSONAL COPY OF MAHAN'S FROM SAIL TO STEAM, BOLDLY SIGNED BY HIM

(PATTON, George S.) MAHAN, A.T. From Sail to Steam. Recollections of Naval Life. London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1907. Octavo, original navy cloth. Housed in custom half morocco clamshell box.

First edition of esteemed military historian A.T. Mahan's memoirs—this memorable association copy belonging to General George S. Patton Jr., boldly signed by him in pencil on the front free endpaper and dated "Aug 1931." There are also two penciled marginal markings by him indicating that he read this volume.

"General George S. Patton Jr. has earned a place in the pantheon of authentic American heroes…. [Yet] his great success on the battlefield did not come about by chance…. He read voraciously… During the interwar years Patton consulted an eclectic list of the famous and the lesser known, ranging from Napoleon and Clausewitz to du Picq, Jomini, Cromwell, Xenophon and Frederick the Great" (D'Este, Patton, 3-4, 317-18). No other military leader wrote so frequently in his letters or diary what he was reading, and no leader's library was so well-documented since Napoleon's. Patton's library, which was almost entirely inherited by his son, Major General George Patton III, was given to West Point, with just a small portion of books, including these volumes, inherited by other descendants or friends. This rare association copy of Mahan's From Sail to Steam—Patton's own copy—is boldly signed and dated by him on the front free endpaper. There are also two marginal markings by Patton in the text, on pages 33 and 39.

Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914) argued that the key to national greatness was sea power, a combination of a far-flung merchant marine and a navy to protect and extend overseas commerce. His 1890 classic The Influence of Sea Power upon History "became the single most influential book on strategy and foreign policy in his time" (Foner, 692), providing the rationale for American expansionism over the following two decades. The creation of the Panama Canal, the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guantanamo, Hawaii, and Guam all reflected Mahan's influence. Protecting these strategic sites was a new "Great White Fleet" of steel-plated ships of the line which replaced the small, largely wooden Navy of the post-Civil War era. A profound influence on Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, Mahan's influence also extended abroad, and led to a Japanese naval race with the US in the Pacific and an even more ominous competition between Britain and Germany.

Interior clean, some discoloration to cloth, spine toned. Patton often traveled with what he was reading, even on campaigns, and his books typically show signs of substantial wear. An extremely good association copy of the memoirs of a renowned naval officer and historian.