DREAMS FROM MY FATHER, EXTRAORDINARY PRESENTATION/ASSOCIATION FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED ONLY SEVEN DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION BY BARACK OBAMA TO HIS KENYAN HALF BROTHER, "TO ABONGO—MY BROTHER, MY FRIEND, WITH ALL MY LOVE AND GRATITUDE. BARACK 7/25/95"

OBAMA, Barack. Dreams from My Father. (New York): Times Books, (1995). Octavo, original half black cloth gilt, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition of Barack Obama’s first book, an exceptionally rare presentation/association copy inscribed on the half title by him and dated only seven days after the day of publication to his beloved half-brother through his father, and who served as Obama's best man at his wedding, "To Abongo—My brother, my friend, with all my love and gratitude. Barack, 7/25/95."

"All men live in the shadow of their fathers—the more distant the father, the deeper the shadow. Barack Obama describes his confrontation with this shadow in his provocative autobiography… and he also persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither… At a young age and without much experience as a writer, Barack Obama has bravely tackled the complexities of his remarkable upbringing" (New York Times).

This very rare first edition is warmly inscribed by Obama to his half-brother, Malik Abongo (Roy) Obama, son of their father's first wife. In this moving autobiography, his first book, President Obama begins with the day, shortly after his 21st birthday, when he learned of his father's death—a moment that led to his journey across an ocean to Kenya, years later, to meet his African family. There, at his father's grave, Obama movingly writes of a moment when he "felt a calmness wash over me. I felt the circle finally close. I realized that who I was, what I cared about, was… connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away… My questions were my brothers' questions. Their struggle, my birthright."

Obama's extraordinary memoir concludes with the day of his wedding to Michelle. In a special tribute to Abongo, who served as his best man, Obama recalls his joy at watching his sisters dance with Michelle's young cousins: "The person who made me proudest of all, though, was Roy. Actually now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam… and at the wedding he looked so dignified in his black African gown with white trim and matching cap that some of our guests mistook him for my father. He was certainly the older brother that day, talking me through prenuptial jitters, patiently telling me for the fifth and sixth time that yes, he still had the ring… Toward the end of the wedding, I watched him grinning widely for the video camera, his long arms draped over the shoulders of my mother and [grandmother] Toot, whose heads barely reached the height of his chest. 'Eh brother,' he said as I walked up to the three of them. 'It looks like I have two new mothers now.' Toot patted him on the back. 'And we have a new son,' she said… My mother's chin started to tremble again, and Abongo lifted up his glass of fruit punch for a toast. 'To those who are not here with us,' he said. 'And to a happy ending,' I said… And for that moment, at least, I felt like the luckiest man alive." President Obama would also serve as best man at the wedding of Abongo, who cherished this inscribed copy for decades, finally selling it in June of 2015 to raise money for the care of his large family and to help his village. President Obama also crossed out the price on the front dust jacket flap in the same black ink as his inscription, as many gift givers would.

A fine presentation copy with arguably the finest association likely to appear on the market.