African Game Trails by Roosevelt, Theodore - 1910

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910 First edition, first printing. Presentation copy; signed and inscribed by Roosevelt on the front endpaper to Zoologist and Ornithologist, Arthur Lennox Butler: "To A.L. Butler Esq/ with the thanks and/ regards of Theodore Roosevelt/ Nov. 1st, 1910". With a two-page autograph letter from Roosevelt to Butler. Original publisher's brown gilt-stamped cloth. Some fading and dampstaining to spine, split to lower spine at rear joint, else very good. Housed in a quarter-leather custom folding box. Arthur Lennox Butler (1873-1939), son of ornithologist and bird collector E. A. Butler (1843-1916), was Curator of Selangor State Museum, Malaya and had one bird and four species of reptiles named in his honor, including the East African venomous snake, Chilorhinophis butleri, or Butler's two-headed snake. It was during his appointment as Superintendent of Game Preservation in Sudan (1901-1915) that he met Roosevelt as he led the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition in 1910. Roosevelt's two-page autograph letter is written from Gondokoro (Southern Sudan) on 27 February 1910: "Dear Mr Butler/ …We have obtained white/ rhino, giant eland, buffalo,/ roan &c. We'll have little/ time to hunt now…/ Mohammed has proved/ excellent; just what we/ needed... I'll send you the 100 piastre/ you so kindly advanced/ as soon as I can get/ a check book"./ With hearty thanks,/Sincerely yours/ Theodore Roosevelt." Only three weeks after he was succeeded as president by William Howard Taft in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt embarked to British East Africa on The Smithsonian East Africa Expedition. Roosevelt was accompanied by his son Kermit, who served as official photographer and to whom this text is dedicated. The expedition collected over 20,000 specimens, which would take the Smithsonian over eight years to catalog. During the yearlong trip, Roosevelt wrote monthly report articles about the expedition for Scribner's Magazine; in 1910, the articles were published in book format as African Game Trails.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good.