Memoirs by Harry S. Truman; Year of Decisions; Years of Trial and Hope

Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1956. Deluxe Limited Edition. Full leather. Fine. Signed limited edition of the Memoirs of Harry S. Truman, inscribed to his newborn grandson, Thomas Washington Daniel.. Thick octavo, [in two volumes], xi, 596pp; xi, 594pp. Full blue leather, title in gilt on spine of each volume. Top edge gilt. Each volume in a publisher's cardboard slipcase, title on label affixed to side. (Burns 0016) Inscribed by former president Truman in both volumes: "To My Grandson, Thomas Washington Daniel, may he have a long and happy life. Harry Truman / 12-5-67." Thomas Washington Daniel was born in 1966, the son of Margaret Truman and Clifton Daniel. He is the youngest grandchild of former President Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman. This leather-bound set was produced for the personal use of President Harry Truman when he maintained an office at the Truman Presidential Library. Only a handful of signed sets are known to exist, all given to political dignitaries, close associates, and family members of President Truman. The remaining volumes were eventually sold by the library as unsigned sets. There is a similar two-volume set, bound in full cloth, which were limited to 500 unnumbered copies. They were originally meant to be released to the public as a signed limited edition set for $35.00, but President Truman had no desire to profit off his signature. In a letter to Ken McCormick of Doubleday, dated July 1, 1955, Truman comments that "I cannot possibly enter into a program which would look as if I were selling autographs instead of a book. I want the book sold on its merit." Doubleday sent President Truman 500 copies of the deluxe set, which he inscribed to dignitaries over the years. Not all of the 500 were distributed by the president, with a few remaining unsigned copies being sold at the Truman Library.