Dore Gustave

1884 · rif. 98772 — Paris: Librairie Garnier Freres circa 1884. 1884. Very good. - Octavo 8 inches high by 5-1/4 inches wide. Hardcover the original wrappers are bound into three quarter red morocco and marbled boards titled and decorated in gilt between raised bands on the spine. The book is further enhanced with marbled endpapers. The top edge is gilt. The covers are slightly rubbed. xxxi 1 & 615 deckle-edged pages. Profusely illustrated with 425 full-page and textual drawings including a frontispiece by Gustave Dore. There is some occasional minor soiling. Very good. From the library of Lincoln MacVeagh and his wife Margaret with their "Arcades Ambo" bookplate on the front paste down. Lincoln MacVeagh 1890-1972 a Renaissance man graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in 1913. He went on to study languages at the Sorbonne and became fluent in German French Spanish Latin Greek and Classical Greek. After World War I he became a director of the Henry Holt and Company publishing firm where he became friendly with the poet Robert Frost. In 1923 he left the firm and founded the Dial Press. His name appears on the imprint of many of their publications. In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed him Minister to Greece. He followed presentation of his credentials with a speech in Classical Greek. While in Greece he conducted excavations beneath the Acropolis and made archeological contributions to the National Museum in Athens. He left Greece in 1941 when the German army over ran the country. From there he was appointed the first US Minister to Iceland where he negotiated agreements for the construction of the Keflavik airfield. In late 1942 he became Minister to the Union of South Africa and coordinated American wartime agencies there. In 1943 he was sent to Cairo as Ambassador so that he could assist the governments in exile of Greece and Yugoslavia. He returned to Athens as Ambassador in 1944. MacVeagh gave secret testimony before Congress concerning the Balkans in 1947 testimony that was an important factor in the formation of the Truman Doctrine. In 1948 as Ambassador to Portugal MacVeagh was influential in admitting her into NATO. In 1952 President Truman named him Ambassador to Spain. President Truman wrote to him on March 9 1948: "On the occasion of your appointment as Ambassador to Portugal I would like to make some personal expression of appreciation for the high services you have already rendered your country. During the past fifteen critical years you have served with distinction as Chief of the United states Missions to Iceland the Union of South Africa Yugoslavia and Greece. In this last post especially - as Minister from 1933 to 1941 and as Ambassador since 1943 - your scholarly statesmanship and diplomatic judgment have been of the utmost value." Paris: Librairie Garnier Freres, circa [1884]. hardcover