Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1882–1945)
"Looking Forward," RARE Advance Copy
New York: John Day Co. . 1933. 8vo. Printed wrappers, 279 pp. Spine creased, otherwise fine and held in a custom blue cloth slipcase.Advance copy, one of 130 copies released on March 10, 1933. The following day the publisher recalled the shipment because of numerous errors strewn throughout the text. Of those 130 copies, 120 were returned. This volume contains corrections in ink on pages 36, 41/42 [replaced page], 158, and 269, indicating that it is one of the copies returned to the publisher.
The tale is this: John Day bound 130 of their 3000 sets of sheets in wrappers and sent them out to reviewers on March 10, 1933; presumably the balance of the edition was at that moment in transit to the bindery. FDR received at least one copy in wrappers at the White House the next day and discovered nine significant errors requiring correction. The publisher concurred with the President and dispatched telegrams to the 130 reviewers requesting that they "Return without opening" the packages they would find in their mail that day. Halter reports, and all subsequent retellings repeat, that, miraculously, 120 of the 130 copies were returned, modified (India ink deletions and a new tipped-in leaf at pp. 141-142, on which too many errors appeared to merely ink-out words), and re-posted on the 15th.
This work, published in the wake of the Great Depression, is “essentially a compilation from many articles written and speeches made prior to March 1, 1933" and includes chapters on topics such as the reorganization of the government, taxation, agriculture, railroads, and judicial reform. (4563)
Book Law, Politics & Social Sciences