Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, Signed by Theodore Roosevelt, Limited Edition #193 of 260, 1905

$12,500.00

Roosevelt, Theodore. Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. Signed and Numbered Limited Edition.

This is a signed limited edition of Roosevelt’s classic work, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter. This is one of 260 numbered Limited Edition copies signed by Roosevelt; this printing is numbered 193. The book is complete with forty-nine full-page photographic plates, after Philip B. Stewart, Arthur Hewitt, E.S Curtis, and others, with original captioned tissue guards.

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was a writer, historian, explorer, hunter, soldier, conservationist, a principal architect of the U.S. national park system. Robert Bridges, in his book Theodore Roosevelt as Author and Contributor (Scribner’s, 1919), relates the genesis of this book:

When he was President he sent for me, and, taking me into his library, opened a drawer in his desk, lifted out a complete manuscript, put it on the desk, and said in effect:

“It isn’t customary for Presidents to publish a book during office, but I am going to publish this one.”

We then went over together the complete manuscript of “Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter.” Some of these papers had been written before. Other chapters were the product of his hunting trips in Colorado and Louisiana while President. The book was ready for the printer, title-page and all.

This book contains accounts of his hunting trips in the West, his impressions of and experiences in Yellowstone Park, and a chapter on books about big game hunting. Roosevelt built a lasting legacy in the conservation movement; he continually championed the compatibility of hunting wildlife and the protection of wildlife and wilderness.

A year after this book was published, President Theodore Roosevelt established the first national monument under the Antiquities Act in 1906, which protected Devils Tower, a well-known geological formation in Crook County, Wyoming. Before President Roosevelt left office in 1909 he signed proclamations establishing eighteen national monuments. Six were created primarily to preserve historic and prehistoric structures, twelve were created primarily to preserve "other objects . . . of scientific interest".

PROVENANCE:

Charles Henry Deere (inscription to front free endpaper; bookplate to front pastedown). Deere was the son of John Deere, and president of the John Deere company.

CONDITION:

First Edition, numbered 193 of 260 copies. Printed on Ruisdael paper by the De Vinne Press. Photogravure frontispiece of Roosevelt, illustrated throughout. Bound in full leather, gilt titles and elaborate tooling to the spine, and decorative endpapers. Original Deere bookplate pasted to inside front cover. Internally clean pages. Forty-nine full-page photographic plates, each with a captioned tissue guard, all intact.

Dimensions: 10 1/2" H x 7 1/4" W x 2 7/8" D (with slipcase)