Skip to main content
Go to accessibility options

Description

FDR mentions his famous stamp collection.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: Autograph Letter Signed as New York Governor.
-May 23, 1931. "On Board S.S. Bremen". One page. 8" x 10.5". Gold embossed Executive Chamber letterhead.
-To: "Mr. Sullivan", n.p.
-Folds, even toning, very good condition.

FDR writes "Your nice note reached me safely on catapult from the Bremen just before I left Paris, and also one from my boys at school. I am grateful for your thought of me, and perhaps luck will have it that you will pilot the Bremen into port - your envelope and that of the boys will go into my stamp collection! I shall hope to see you some day soon." Roosevelt penned this letter en route from Europe after visiting his ailing mother and touring the battlefields of World War I.


More Information:

The extended description below was supplied by the consignor. We are making it available to our web bidders who are interested in more in-depth research and broader historical perspective. Please note that presentation (i.e. framing), lot divisions, and interpretations of condition and content may occasionally differ from our descriptions. Assertions of fact and subjective observations contained in this description represent the opinion of the consignor. These remarks have not been checked for accuracy by Heritage Auctions, and we assume no responsibility for their accuracy; they are offered purely to allow the bidder insight into the way the consignor has viewed the item(s) in question. No right of return or claim of lack of authenticity or provenance based upon this extended description will be granted.

 

In FDR's own hand in its entirety, an autograph letter signed, on State of New York, Executive Chamber, Albany letterhead. FDR writes "On Board S.S. Bremen/ May 23rd/ 1931/ Dear Mr. Sullivan:/ Your nice note reached me safely on catapult from the Bremen just before I left Paris, and also one from my boys at school. I am grateful for your thought of me, and perhaps luck will have it that you will pilot the Bremen into port – your envelope and that of the boys will go into my stamp collection! I shall hope to see you some day soon./ Sincerely yours,/ Franklin D. Roosevelt." This is a very interesting letter, with personal references by FDR to his children and his stamp collection. Just before FDR left New York for his annual April holiday at Warm Springs, Georgia in 1931, he learned that his mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, had contracted pneumonia in France. FDR dropped everything and crossed the Atlantic on the S. S. Aquitania with his son Elliott. When FDR arrived in France his mother had largely recovered. He remained there for about five weeks, touring the battlefields of the Great War with Elliott, and was pleased to find that the shattered farms and towns of northeastern France had been largely rebuilt. FDR had a reunion with Andre Tardieu, with whom he had jousted over the American radio station at Bordeaux in 1919. He returned to New York on the new German blue riband superliner S.S. Bremen, along with former Vice President and then United States Ambassador to Great Britain, Charles G. Dawes. It was on this return trans-Atlantic voyage on the S.S. Bremen that FDR wrote this handwritten letter to Mr. Sullivan.  A wonderful and very interesting personal letter.



Auction Info

Auction Dates
June, 2008
7th Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 4
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 683

Buyer's Premium per Lot:
19.5% of the successful bid per lot.

Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Sales Tax information

Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More

Terms and Conditions  |  Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments |  Glossary of Terms
Sold on Jun 7, 2008 for: $1,553.50
Track Item