Through the Brazilian Wilderness by ROOSEVELT, Theodore (1858-1919) - 1914

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914. Large 8vo. Photogravure frontispiece and 48 half-tone plates, one folding and 2 full-page maps. Publisher's cloth, upper cover and spine stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut. Housed in a red morocco box. Provenance: Lola Edith Lowther (presentation inscription by Roosevelt, dated 13 May 1915) Rare presentation copy of the first edition. After losing his bid for a third term in the White House, Roosevelt accepted an invitation from the Brazilian government to accompany explorer Candido Rondon on an expedition to descend the River of Doubt (now named Rio Roosevelt) through an unexplored region of the Amazon. This work recounts his harrowing 1913-1914 journey, in which Roosevelt nearly died. The expedition would prove to be Roosevelt's last great adventure and Through the Brazilian Wilderness among the final works published in his lifetime. Interestingly, this volume was inscribed in the midst of Roosevelt's 1915 libel trial, having been sued for calling New York Republican leader William Barnes "a political boss of the most obnoxious type." The trial, held in Syracuse (it being deemed a more neutral jurisdiction than Albany), lasted from 19 April to 22 May, 1915, when the jury found in Roosevelt's favor. Roosevelt would later write that the toll which the trial took on him ensured the end of his active participation in politics. During the course of the trial, Roosevelt stayed at the home of his friend Horace Wilkinson, the founder of Crucible Steel. The present volume is inscribed to Horace Wilkinson's wife's niece, Lola Edith Lowther.