Many years ago while strolling through a local swap meet
with two of our four daughters, Katie and Kelly, I happened to stop in front of
a blanket full of books. Being an avid reader, as all explorers tend to be, the
compulsion to stop and pore over the materials was too hard to resist. I spoke
to the kindly older gentlemen who was selling the books a bit about this and
that while lifting one book and then another turning a page here or there.
After a moment my eyes landed on Dodsworth
by Sinclair Lewis and of course being a fan of this particular writer I
nonchalantly hefted the work up into my hands and carefully opened the front
cover. To my surprise, and later my delight, I saw a very strange and telling inscription from the author.
my dear commissioner,
I do so hope that you will make a reasonable America
Sam Dodsworth per secy Sinclair Lewis
I felt my hands start to tremble a bit when I realized that
I was not only holding a rare autographed book by Sinclair Lewis but one with a
special message to someone who seemed to be important enough for the writer to
take the extra steps in penning the note personally.
Did I happen to mention it was a 1929 First Edition?
I closed the text and as calmly as I could asked the fellow
selling the book how much he wanted for it. He took a glance at the old blue
green cover and responded. “How about fifty cents?” I tossed the man two quarters
and stumbled away with my treasure cushioned beneath my right arm.
As life goes on so does time and the book rested in my
bookcase for over a dozen years before I started looking into the history of
the book late in 2012. It took time but the research was well worth the effort.
It seems the book belonged to Frances Perkins who received
the autographed copy from Sinclair Lewis. They were great friends according to
the historical records and after contacting the Frances
Perkins Center
in Newcastle , Maine
What makes this book so exciting, besides it was an
autographed First Edition by Sinclair Lewis, is the fact it was given to one of
the most influential yet under-rated political figures of the early 20th century. At
the time of the presentation of the novel in 1929, Ms. Perkins was the New York
State Commissioner of Labor, having been appointed to that position by her friend and
benefactor Franklin D. Roosevelt who was Governor of New York at the time. In 1933, Perkins was appointed by now President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the
position of Secretary of Labor for the United States
This woman did it all and never once, per all available
reports, shirked from her belief system, her loyalty to President Roosevelt
or to the country she served. After President Roosevelt’s death on April 12,
1945 she stayed on with government service being assigned to the United States
Civil Service Commission by then new President Harry Truman. She stayed on at
that post until the death of her husband in 1952, when she retired from public
service.
Frances Perkins is an American icon and to own a book that
she had held, read, and had been given to her by the famous writer Sinclair
Lewis made the novel all that much more valuable.
It was a treasure and like all treasures we decided to get
an approximate value for it and after making the usual inquires through rare
book sellers and the like came up with an estimated value of approximately
$1500.
Not a bad investment for fifty cents.
But like many treasures it is not about the currency value
but the historical value and with that in mind J & L will be donating the
book to the Frances Perkins Center in Maine within the next month. The curator
and members of the Center are very pleased and honored to have this piece of
history on display. It is a piece of Americana which belonged to a very special
American, a woman who was destined for greatness and showed it through her
actions.
We felt very honored to have owned it for these many years
and though missed will know it will be enjoyed by countless generations who owe
so much to Frances Perkins.
info@FrancesPerkinsCenter.org
wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins
