This I Remember, signed by James Roosevelt, eldest son of the author and President Franklin D. Roosevelt

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949. First edition. Hardcover. This first edition of Eleanor Roosevelts (1884-1962) memoir spanning her husbands governorship of New York to his death in 1945 at the beginning of his fourth presidential term is signed James Roosevelt by her son on the front free endpaper recto.

The binding is medium blue cloth with a dark blue spine label printed in gilt and bracketed by triple gilt rules and with Eleanor Roosevelts facsimile signature in black on the lower front cover. The contents feature deckled fore edges. An illustrated dust jacket in red, gold, white, and black features a portrait of Eleanor by Yousuf Karsh on the front face.

Condition is very good in a very good dust jacket. The blue cloth binding is square and tight with sharp corners. The chief defects are light overall mottling of the cloth and minor shelf wear to extremities. The contents remain respectably bright with no spotting and no previous ownership marks other than the authors sons signature. Lest there be any doubt, FIRST EDITION is helpfully printed on the copyright page. Differential toning of the endpapers and pastedowns corresponding to the dust jacket flaps confirms that this copy has spent life jacketed. The dust jacket is unclipped, retaining the original $4.50 front flap price, and substantially complete, with only fractional chipping to the joint and flap fold extremities. The jacket shows light overall scuffing, mild spine toning, and modest edge wear, and is newly fitted with a clear, removable, archival cover.

James Roosevelt (1907-1991) was the eldest son of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. James made a substantial fortune in the insurance industry before serving as an aid to his father. During the Second World War, James served in secret diplomatic missions before requesting reassignment to combat duty, where he became a decorated U.S. Marine. James later served five terms as a U.S. Congressman from California (1955-1965), after which he became United States representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and subsequently an executive with the Investors Overseas Services before it collapsed after embezzlement. During his long life, four marriages, and sometimes scandal-plagued career, James tried his hand at a number of professions, including both Hollywood producer and author.

This I Remember picks up where Eleanors earlier memoir This Is My Story left off. What differentiates Eleanors biographies from those of many other prominent figures is that each word was actually composed by her. A favorable New York Times review said, it is shockingly delightful to read a book which could have been written by absolutely no one else in the world than the great and important figure whose name is signed to it, which is flavorful, characteristic, and moving. Prior to its publication through McCalls, Eleanor offered the manuscript to Ladies Home Journal, which profitably serialized This Is My Story. However, the editors were dissatisfied with the writing in the manuscript and suggested that she take on a collaborator to write it. She declined, and McCalls published it instead to commercial success.

When her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was elected in 1932, Eleanor had already made a name for herself in Democratic politics. Eleanor decided to transform the hitherto mostly social and apolitical role of First Lady. And after her husbands death, Eleanor did not withdraw into widowhood. It was her husbands successor, President Harry S. Truman, who called Eleanor First Lady of the World for her humanitarian work. Eleanor became the first US Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and remained a prolific writer (including dozens of books, hundreds of articles and editorials, and a daily newspaper column from 1936-1962). Transcending her role as mere first lady, Eleanor, became a fearless international champion of progressive causes and perhaps the most influential American woman of the twentieth century. (ANB).