The Death of a President: November 20--November 25, 1963 (inscribed and signed, with correspondence laid in)
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, (1967). First printing. Diagrams and maps. Cloth over boards. Octavo. xxviii, 710 pages.
This is an inscribed and signed copy of Manchester's masterpiece which includes a mini-archive of correspondence pointing to a previously undocumented intimate relationship between Manchester and a young woman working for his literary agent.
The book was commissioned by the Kennedy family and details the tragic weekend of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Because he was initially writing at the Kennedy family's behest Manchester had incredible access to countless individuals in official roles with interesting perspectives. The result is a superbly written, incredible record of the events of that tragic weekend without the sensationalism and conspiracy theories associated with other books on the assassination.
The research and writing and an eventual legal battle with the Kennedys over the finished book took a major toll on Manchester, leading to his hospitalization for exhaustion for a period while working on the book.
Laid into this copy of the book is an intriguing group of three typed notes from Manchester to one Miss Anne Tiffany which seem to reveal a romantic relationship between the two. All three of Manchester's notes are on government stationery--one from the Attorney General and one from The White House and one from The Joint Chiefs of Staff--presumably picked up by Manchester in the course of his extensive interviews with government officials. Two of the envelopes match the offices of the enclosed stationery while that enclosing the note on The Joint Chiefs of Staff memorandum sheet is in a plain envelope postmarked Middletown, CT on June 22, 1966. The first two notes are not signed by Manchester but the third has a few slight corrections in his hand and is signed "B." It is clear from the content that these are from him. The fourth piece of correspondence laid in is apparently from a female friend of Miss Tiffany's and mentions Manchester.
What we deduce from the content of these pieces of correspondence is that Anne Tiffany worked for Manchester's literary agent, Don Congdon, at Harold Matson Company in New York. Manchester writes to her in a flirtatious and suggestive tone, at one point telling Anne that he'd forgotten to get her home address due to "No blood in the brain. It was active somewhere else." He asks here to write him at Wesleyan Station, Middletown, Connecticut, "...that way its arrival will be unnoticed, and no one will read it before me."
All together a unique and revealing association, offering primary‑source insight into Manchester’s private life at the height of his public visibility. No other correspondence of this nature is known.
Very good in a very good dust jacket. Slight fading to cloth binding toward top and bottom edges, minor bumps to spine ends. Jacket has some light surface scratches and minor edge wear at spine ends.
Item #2060
Price: $1,250