
The Problem of Asia and its Effect upon International Politics
MAHAN, Captain Alfred T.
INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR
Published: Little Brown Boston MA, 1900
Stock code: 49152
Price: £660.00
8vo., First Edition, with folding map on japon, tiny signature on front free endpaper verso; navy cloth, upper board with USS IOWA blocked in gilt, gilt back, gilt top, black endpapers, uncut, endpapers cracked at hinges (but binding wholly sound), else a near fine copy.
With 6pp publisher's catalogue bound in at end. THIS COPY WAS PRESENTED BY ABEL I. SMITH Jr TO THE LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN 1946 AND ACCORDINGLY BEARS ITS PRESENTATION BOOKPLATE ON FRONT PASTE-DOWN. THIS COPY IS SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR WITH HIS LENGTHY HOLOGRAPH INSCRIPTION ON BLANK PRELIMINARY RECTO: ' We can now never consent to the transfer of a fortress in the Caribbean to a European power, than we would ourselves have thought of acquiring Fort Marion [formerly and subsequently Castillo de San Marcos, FL] as a result of our successful war with Spain'. After the Civil War and that with Cuba, Mahan's theories of sea power (in particular the need for significant naval expansion) were much admired by Theodore Roosevelt; during the latter's term as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1898 the US constructed a powerful fleet which served it well in the subsequent war with Spain. GIVEN THAT WORKS SIGNED BY MAHAN ARE EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT AND SPLENDIDLY RELEVANT COPY. Hattendorf A8a.