Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2006 Issue
Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection
Page from Teddy Roosevelt's speech shows where bullet passed through.
The aforementioned President McKinley did not have the foresight to carry a long-winded speech in his pocket, so he was not as lucky as Roosevelt when the bullets rang out. McKinley did have the good sense to seek immediate medical attention, but unfortunately, neither proper facilities nor the most appropriate of surgeons were immediately available. Surgery to close the wound was performed by Dr. Matthew Mann, a gynecologist and obstetrician, but not an expert abdominal surgeon. Mann was unable to locate the bullet, so McKinley was sewed up with the bullet still inside of him. For several days he appeared to make progress, but gangrene set in. A week later, McKinley suffered a major reversal, and within little more than a day, he was gone. At the end, even McKinley realized the end was at hand. He spoke his final words, and Dr. Mann was one of the witnesses. Two months later, Mann wrote this letter to Ward S. Huston recounting the President's final words. They were, he wrote, "Good-bye, all, goodbye. It is God's way. His will be done, not ours." He later repeated portions of the hymn "Nearer, my God, to Thee.'" Item 25. $800.
In the early 18th century, Peter the Great was lifting Russia out of its feudal stage. However, her ability to rise as a world power required access to the sea, and that could only be through the Baltic. There, Russia had a major adversary, Sweden. It may seem surprising today, but at one time Sweden was a major world power. The result of this conflict was the Great Northern War. Russian forces under Mikhail Golitsyn would beat down the Swedes with attacks on their ports from 1719-1721. It would be the end of Sweden as a power, and the emergence of Russia as one. Item 4 is a 1719 letter, in Russian, from Peter to General Golitsyn, with advice on how to proceed, but ultimately expressing trust in the General's judgment. $8,500.
If you are an autograph collector, and many readers of this catalogue surely are, then you are in good stead. It is not well known, but Franklin D. Roosevelt was an autograph collector too. Item 32 is a brief note from FDR enclosing a check for $10 for some autographs he purchased. It was written from the New York State capital in Albany, where Roosevelt served as governor, on March 30, 1932. That fall, he would be elected president in a landslide. $2,000.
How much does one get paid to make the dreadful decision whether to drop the atomic bomb, and to bring the world's greatest war to an end? The answer is $4,884.95. Item 36 is President Harry Truman's paycheck for August, 1945, the month in which those decisions were made and the war brought to a close. It was issued on September 23, and the back is endorsed, naturally, by Truman. He certainly earned his pay that month. $8,500.
