Sherri Garber was working the phones one day in the Friends office when she received a call about a peculiar book donation. As detailed in the current issue of Connections, Sherri has seen it all in her years as a volunteer in the friends Book Store and the Annual Sale. But she had never seen anything like this: a nine-volume set of “The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin Roosevelt,” one of 10 copies known to exist.
These were rare books, to be sure, but they were made all the more rare by the fact that Volume 1 was inscribed by FDR himself: “For A.E. Giegengack, from his friend Franklin D. Roosevelt.” Giegengack held the very-cool title of The Public Printer during the Roosevelt administration; the donor of this set was his 88-year-old daughter.
Recognizing that the nine-volume set might fetch more in an auction house than on the Friend Book Store shelves, Sherri contacted Swann Galleries, which included the books in its April 8 auction of Americana. Sure enough, after the gavel had fallen, the Friends had realized $2,800, which will help us buy new books (print and electronic) for all of us to share. A fitting way for a storied FDR volume to find a new home.