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Rare Books

Once Upon a Time... (Plus, Trivia!)

by Kirsten Berg, February 10, 2010 4:47 PM
Before Obama wrote Dreams from My Father...

Before George x 2...

Before THE blue dress...

Before the Gipper...

Before 444 days in captivity...

Before Ford pardoned Nixon...

Before Marilyn sang "Happy Birthday"...

Before the scariest two weeks in October...

Before any of this happened, there was a Senator from Massachusetts. Though most of us know his book Profiles in Courage because it won a 1957 Pulitzer, fewer of us have heard of the book he published in 1960, The Strategy of Peace. It seems to be the obligatory pre-presidential campaign tome of its time (remember W's A Charge to Keep?).

This is what makes being a used book buyer so much fun — the copy of The Strategy of Peace that came to us the other week at the buying table in our downtown store was inscribed by John F. Kennedy, and laid in was a T.L.s (typed letter, signed) on United States Senate stationary.

To celebrate our acquisition, here's a trivia question: What movie star of the great Hollywood era owned a complete set of United States presidential signatures, from George Washington to FDR? Below is the catalog entry from one of the Sotheby's sales of her library.

Here's a clue: she was the mistress (today we'd say 'domestic partner') of a man for over 30 years, but she never married him.

The first person to post the correct answer will win whatever Powell's swag (shirt, pens, pint glass — who knows?) I can lift from the marketing department while they are out to "lunch."




Books mentioned in this post

A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House

George W. Bush and Mickey Herskowitz

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Barack Obama

Profiles in Courage Decisive Moments in the Lives of Celebrated Americans

John F Kennedy

Tabular Observations Recommended, as the Plainest and Surest Way of Practicing and Improving Physic: In a Letter to a Friend (1731)

Francis Clifton
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8 Responses to "Once Upon a Time... (Plus, Trivia!) "

J Evans March 26, 2011 at 01:24 PM
Fascinating! Who knew?? Well, I guess "Ali" did. Thoroughly enjoyed this site.

Kirsten February 11, 2010 at 12:30 PM
Solved in record time! Ms Davies was the sweetie of William Randolph Hearst, who had the $$ to lavish on books.

ali February 11, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Marion Davies. (Credit to LKD)

Kirsten February 11, 2010 at 09:56 AM
It wasn't Kate and it wasn't Lauren. They both probably went to parties at the mystery woman's home -- EVERYONE went to her parties!

Mark Snyder February 11, 2010 at 07:22 AM
Katherine Hepburn. :-)

Nancy February 11, 2010 at 06:59 AM
Katharine Hepburn

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