Election Mood
Great Neck: G. Alan Chidsey, 1940. Very Good. Item #5005
Great Neck, NY: G. Alan Chidsey, November 9, 1940. Octavo (9.5” x 6.25”); [60pp]. Dark gray leather with stamped lettering. Covers a bit toned with any gilt or foil to lettering rubbed away. Spine a bit cocked. A handful of the pasted-in columns have let go from the pages, but are all present and laid in at their respective places, with no tears or folds. Binding is sound. Faint Library of Congress Surplus stamp on front free endpaper, but no other library markings.
Hand-made book comprised of artfully pasted-in clippings from Boothe’s magazine and news articles, with other design and format elements drawn in by the designer. Selections come eight articles Boothe published in 1940 leading up to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s election to an unprecedented third term as president (the collection begins with Boothe’s 1940 Liberty Magazine article “A Third Term for Fear”). Boothe was an author, Ambassador to Italy and then to Brazil (the first woman appointed to a major ambassadorial role), member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and conservative speaker. She was the first female member of Congress to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Alan Chidsey was a New York bookseller, lawyer, and occasional book designer who served as a trustee to the Marsden Hartley estate. While we have found a couple similar books designed by Chidsey described as mock-ups, none seem to have entered an actual print run, suggesting these were instead one-off or very small-run originals.
Articles included:
A Third Term for Fear - Liberty Magazine, 1940
There Are No Words - Allied Relief Fund (?)
Letters of a Last-Nighter - Stage, Nov 1940
Let’s Face the Facts #8 - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, November 1940
Does This War Mean Beginning or End for World Democracy - ?
"Half a Worm: A Confession of Weakness," Current History & Forum, 1940
What National Unity Means - Address at Women’s Meeting to launch the National Unity Campaign at the Council Against Intolerance in America - October 1940.
Price: $350.00