Description
First edition of Skyward by Admiral Richard Byrd, inscribed by Eleanor Roosevelt to her son John.
Octavo, xvi, 359pp, [1]. Blue cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine and front cover. Complete with frontispiece portrait and 47 full page plates. Maps on endpapers, blue top stain. Touch of wear to tips of spine, hint of sunning to spine. Paired with the publisher’s first state dust jacket, no price listed, bright illustrations, chipping at head of spine, a bright example. Housed in custom blue cloth clamshell.
Signed on the second free endpaper: “John with love / from Father & Mother.”
This copy was gifted to John A. Roosevelt (1916-1981), the youngest child of President Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, when he was thirteen years old. His collection of Rooseveltiana was sold by Christie’s in 2001 and comprised over 3000 items. It was sold by his widow, Irene Roosevelt Aitken, over the objections of the National Park Service and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. This item was purchased by Roth, Horowitz, Anderson, Inc in 2001, before the collection went to public auction.
Skyward is the first book by polar explorer Richard Byrd, where he details his 1928-1930 expedition to Antarctica, his flights to the North Pole, and his flights across the Atlantic Ocean. For his endeavors, Admiral Byrd was honored by then Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a ticker-tape parade in 1930.
