Addresses of the President of the United States on the Occasion of His Visit to South America, November & December 1936

[Washington, D.C.]: United States Printing Office, 1937. First edition, one of 75 (but probably one of only 7 in this binding). 97, [3] pp. 1 vols. 4to. Bound in full light bown pigskin, with metallic plaque of the Seal of the United States inset into the upper cover, now with a fine patina, pigskin doublures and silk endpapers. Fine. In quarter leather and marbled boards pull off slipcase. First edition, one of 75 (but probably one of only 7 in this binding). 97, [3] pp. 1 vols. 4to. Inscribed to Morgenthau in the Deluxe Binding. A sumptously produced White House Christmas book, commemorating FDR's nearly month-long diplomatic mission to promote "hemispheric solidarity" with South America. The book was issued in an uncertain, though undoubtedly strictly limited, number, with two issues--in full pigskin, as seen here, and half pigskin and marbled boards. The colophon calls for 75 copies, with the more desirable full pigskin binding scheduled to run to 50 copies for distribution to South American dignitaries and the half-leather isssue of a planned 25 copies reserved for FDR's personal use and distribution at the holidays. Documents at the Library at Hyde Park suggest that the full edition of 75 copies was not achieved (cf. Horowitz, "Carmichael Collection") and that as few as seven were ever bound in full pigskin.
This copy, one of the "foreign" issues, was nonetheless INSCRIBED to FDR's Sectretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau on a specially printed leaf: "To the Honorable Henry Morgenthau, Jr Secretary of the Treasury of the United States" (printed) and inscribed below in the President's hand, "From his old friend/ Franklin D. Roosevelt