Description
From the library of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Ladies’ Hand-Book of Knitting, Netting, and Crochet, received by FDR in the White House in 1934.
Miniature book, 60pp, [4pp ads]. Publisher’s brown cloth, title in gilt on cover, yellow endpapers. Front hinge starting, solid text block. All edges gilt. Measures 9cm x 13cm. Initialed in pencil on front endpaper: “FDR / The White House / 1934.” Includes Franklin D. Roosevelt bookplate, numbered M45 (No. 1282).
President Franklin Roosevelt was an avid collector of miniature books, a hobby which began in the 1890s and continued throughout his presidency. A complete list of his collection does not exist, since the books were located at the White House, Hyde Park and Campobello Island. After his death in 1945, his collection was divided up between members of the family and the National Park Service at Hyde Park. The first part of the collection was sold at auction in 1951 by Hammer Galleries of New York. At the estate sale for Eleanor Roosevelt in 1964, additional miniature books were sold at auction. (The Microbibliophile, Volume XXXVII, Number 1, Issue 211, January 2018) (FDR’s Little Books, Weber).
