"TO MR. ROOSEVELT WITH THE WARM GRATITUDE OF THE WRITER": PRESENTATION/ASSOCIATION COPY OF TOWARDS THE GOAL, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY MARY AUGUSTA WARD TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT, WHO ENCOURAGED WARD TO WRITE THE BOOK AND ALSO WROTE THE INTRODUCTION

(ROOSEVELT, Theodore) WARD, Mary Augusta. Towards the Goal. London: John Murray, 1917. Octavo, original red cloth, paper spine and cover labels. $1800.

First edition, presentation/association copy, of this collection of journalistic articles about events in Britain during the First World War, inscribed by the author to Theodore Roosevelt, who inspired the book and wrote the introduction: "To Mr. Roosevelt with the warm gratitude of the writer—."

During World War I, Theodore Roosevelt asked novelist Mary Augusta Ward to write a series of article explaining wartime events in Britain to Americans. Roosevelt believed that America needed to abandon its non-interventionalist stance. Woodrow Wilson had tried repeatedly to broker a peace. Former President Roosevelt pressured him to abandon hopes of a settlement and intervene. Roosevelt went so far as to denounce German acts as "piracy. By February 1917, relations had hit a low point and, rather than forgive a German submarine attack on seven US merchant ships, America went to war. Books such as this one were a powerful force in converting Americans to the cause.

Very light foxing to preliminaries, a few faintly discolored marks to cloth, only mild rubbing and a bit of toning to extremities. An exceptionally good inscribed copy with a fascinating association.