A Message to Garcia

This inspirational essay was originally published as a filler without a title in the March 1899 issue of the Philistine Magazine, which Hubbard edited. During the Spanish-American War, President McKinley entrusted an obscure lieutenant named Rowan to deliver an important message to Cuban insurgent General Calixto Garcia. This essay stresses the importance of initiative and hard work.

This copy of "A Message to Garcia", by Elbert Hubbard (Fra Elbertus) was published in 1916 by The Roycrofters at East Aurora, Erie County, New York. The booklet, which is approximately 3 ¾ inches wide by 5 1/8 inches tall, contains 16 pages of text plus two photographic plates, and is bound in brown paper covers with black lettering and red decoration on front and back. The inside rear cover contains a short essay titled "Initiative" written by Hubbard, and the rear outer covers bears a Hubbard motto that reads "When put to the test, an ounce of Loyalty is worth a pound of Cleverness". The front cover has a printed message reading "Compliments of Cavert & Lipscomb". The booklet, whose pages are lightly tanned, is in near fine condition.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the front cover, a 2-page spread showing the title page and the photographic plate frontispiece, the first page of the introductory APOLOGIA, a 2-page spread showing the last page of the APOLOGIA and the first page of A MESSAGE TO GARCIA, and a 2-page spread showing the final editorial message and the second photographic plate.