TRUMAN, Harry S.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Memoirs. Year of Decision. First edition, deluxe issue reserved for Truman, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title "To my grandson Harrison Gates Daniel with a hope that he may have a long and happy life. Harry Truman 12-5-67".Harrison Gates Daniel (born 1963) was the son of Truman's only child, his daughter Margaret. Year of Decision covers the first period of Truman's presidency, including the aftermath of the death of Roosevelt, Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan, and the ending of the War in the Pacific. Truman subsequently published another volume on his peacetime Presidency.The deluxe issue of the Memoirs was purchased en bloc by Truman for presentation to associates. The standard trade issue of the first edition of Truman's Memoirs was in cloth and jacket. The publishers planned a deluxe signed limited issue, to retail at $35. However, Truman blocked the project, writing "I cannot possible enter into a program which would look as if I were selling autographs instead of a book" (letter to editor in chief of Doubleday, 1 July 1955, in Ferrell, p. 319), feeling that it was beneath the dignity of a former president. However, Truman was enamoured with the idea of a deluxe format of his memoirs, and requested the publishers sell him 500 copies (ibid.), seeing their use as copies for presentation. These copies in deluxe bindings were split between those in morocco, as here, and in high-quality cloth, both in card slipcases. Invoices in T

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