RENOIR. [French edition]. - 1962

Paris: Hachette, (1962)., (1962).. Very good. - Octavo, 7-3/8 inches high by 5 inches wide. Hardcover, bound in three-quarter dark blue morocco and teal marbled boards titled with devices in gilt between raised bands on the spine. The original front pictorial wrapper is bound in at the front. The covers are slightly rubbed and the leather is splitting along the top of the front joint. 458 pages. Very good. First edition. The French film director Jean Renoir has written a memoir of his father, the renowned artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The text is in French. From the library of Lincoln MacVeagh with his signature on the first blank and notes as to where he bought the book and when he read it. Also with his initials stamped in gilt at the foot of the spine. 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."