Taxation: The People's Business - First Edition - Signed - Andrew Mellon - Bauman Rare Books

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Taxation: The People's Business

Andrew MELLON

Item#: 107619 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Taxation: The People's Business

Taxation: The People's Business

PRESENTATION FIRST EDITION OF TAXATION: THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS, 1924, INSCRIBED IN THE MONTH OF PUBLICATION BY FINANCIER AND POWERFUL SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY ANDREW MELLON

MELLON, Andrew W. Taxation: The People's Business. New York: Macmillan, 1924. Octavo, original maroon cloth.

First edition of the first and only book by Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury to three presidents, famed in his time as "resident 'financier of the universe,'" presentation copy inscribed to W.N. Thompson, Executive Assistant of S. Parker Gilbert in his post as Under Secretary of the Treasury during Mellon's tenure as Secretary of the Treasury, with Mellon inscribing this copy in the month of publication, "To W.N. Thompson With my thanks for his aid, A.W. Mellon April 1924."

Appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1921, Mellon "was the most powerful figure in three successive presidential cabinets" (ANB). Under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, he was "the resident 'financier of the universe'… and in 1924 when he wrote Taxation, he had full presidential support. The press dubbed his proposal the 'Mellon Plan'" (Folsom, Myth of the Robber Barons, 111). Taxation, his only book, was published in April 1924. It features a number of his writings, "drawn together by David Finley… its proposals were essentially those the secretary had sent to Congress the previous autumn. Mellon insisted the Treasury should be run 'on business principles,' and that federal taxation should be 'the least burden to the people' while yielding 'the most revenue to the government'" (Cannadine, Mellon, xii). First printing: with no mention of additional printings. Without rarely found dust jacket. The recipient W.N. Thompson was Executive Assistant to S. Parker Gilbert when he served as Under Secretary of the Treasury (1921-23) during Mellon's tenure as Secretary of the Treasury. In Mellon's preface he particularly expresses his "indebtedness to Mr. S. Parker Gilbert… for the invaluable assistance which he has rendered." That gratitude is similarly expressed in Mellon's inscription herein to Thompson.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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