Description

Matching set, acquired together. Tight, flat, square, sharp books with 22K gold inlay and edge treatment with very minor blemishes. Marker ribbons are without fraying. Both books have silk moire end pages, which were dropped in later printings. Both collectors' notes are included. Shelf transfer on the bottom edge. We have cleaned and conditioned these books. The set won the Pulitzer in 1959 for Biography or Autobiography, one year after it was published. Walworth apparently undertook the mission to complete a biography of Woodrow Wilson at the behest of Harvard professor Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. When completed (after a decade of research by Walworth) this biography represented the most substantial effort on Wilson since Ray Stannard Baker completed an eight-volume study of Wilson in 1939. The first volume (“American Prophet”) follows Wilson from childhood to the third year of his presidency while the second volumes follows the build-up to World War I, Wilson’s reluctant engagement in the global conflict and his efforts at ensuring an enduring peace. Wilson’s post-presidency was covered efficiently (in about a dozen pages) but effectively. The earliest impression this biography offers is one of reverence – not for Wilson himself (which the author may have intended) but for the historical value of the biography itself. The painstaking work Walworth undertook to meticulously reassemble Wilson’s life is obvious. And Walworth’s portrayal of Wilson, while generally flattering, also exposes many of his flaws.