THE AMERICAN HEART (Signed Copy, with Publisher's Promotional Card and Ephemera Laid-In).

Kansas City, Missouri: Burton Publishing Company. Very Good Plus/No Jacket. 1919. First Edition. Hard Cover. 218 PAGES. HARDCOVER / INSCRIBED AND SIGNED TO FRONT ENDPAPER / LAID-IN ARE ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S PROMOTIONAL POSTCARD & ORDER FORM FOR THE AMERICAN HEART -& EPHEMERA (A handbill from March 23, 1919 for "An Entertainment in Honor of Our Victory Boys, held at Camp Upton, Long Island" and featuring a list of musical performers plus notice of a speech by Dorothy Frooks). This is an original Hardcover First-edition volume, published in 1919 by Burton Publishing Company of Kansas City, Missouri. A rare copy of what is believed to be the first book published by DOROTHY FROOKS (February 12, 1896 - April 13. 1997) , important American Suffragist, early woman military figure and Aviator, journalist (with the New York Evening World), book author and a lawyer by the age of 21. She lived an extraordinary life involved in public causes for most of the twentieth century. She stumped for women's suffrage as a child, recruited thousands of men to World War One service as a teenager, and was a veteran of both World War I (United States Navy) and World War II (United States Army). Frooks also served as the National Commander of the Women World War Veterans. Among her many life achievements were laying the groundwork for aid to dependent children and for small claims courts. From her New York tme Obituary: " By the early 1920's, at least, she was well known in New York as the first full-time lawyer for the Salvation Army. After setting up free legal clinics and discovering that poor people were often frustrated by their inability to collect small debts, she conceived the idea of a small claims court and lobbied hard until the first bill was signed into law by her old friend and suitor, Mayor La Guardia." Frooks late in life appeared in Hollywood in 1981 as one of 'The Witnesses' Warren Beatty's film REDS. Frooks died in 1997 at the age of 101, survived by her huband J. P. Vanderbilt.....THE AMERICAN HEART is a story of intense human interest, told in a series of correspondence between Kitty, a patriotic, energetic American girl, who is keenly interested in every phase of the Great War, and who, by her activities and associations, knows the throb of the great American heart of today, and Billy, an American reared and educated boy of German parentage. Billy goes to Germany for a post graduate course about a year before the war breaks out, and is very enthusiastic about everything Germanic, as were many good Americans before the War. Every letter is full of human interest, a plea for a better civilization, a surer democracy, and, through it all, an interesting romance....... The book is 218 pages, with an introduction by Dr. Henry Clewes. An original hardcover first edition, solidly bound in blue boards with a red heart decoration to front. Very Good Plus condition, with boards showing only very minor wear at edges, a few discoloring spots at spine, with a very bright and clean interior. It is Inscribed on front end-paper, and signed by Dorothy Frooks with the date "May '19." A LOVELY COPY OF A VERY RARE ITEM. Fast shipping, professionally and securely packed for safe delivery. We are an independent Family owned shop, shipping books across North America and around the World for over 30 years. RARE / AMERICANA .