OBAMA, Barack Hussein. Dreams from My Father. New York: Times Books, 1995.
8vo. Original black cloth-backed boards (2 small yellow price labels from The Strand bookstore from 1997 and 1998, else fine); original unclipped dust jacket (small spot of wear to spine panel, else fine).
FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, INSCRIBED BY BARACK OBAMA on the half-title to “Jean and Paul, Thanks for all your friendship and support”. F. Paul Mooring was a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory. He and Jean spearheaded the creation of the Illinois Prairie Path. He was on the DuPage Conservation Commission, the Conservation Foundation and serves as president of the Illinois Audubon Society. The Moorings were early supporters of Obama as an Illinois State Senator, and his following campaigns for U.S. Senator from Illinois, and President of the United States.
Dreams from My Father was published as Barack Obama was preparing to run for the Illinois Senate and was re-published nine years later when he announced his candidacy for the United States Senate. The book was described as “the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician” by Time columnist Joe Klein. It had only one printing in its first edition, and many of those went to lending libraries, and other copies were remaindered. This copy bears no remainder marks, but it may be how The Strand bookstore acquired it. Unlike today, few people wanted it prior to 2004- except State Senator Obama, who bought remaindered copies after his supply of author’s copies was exhausted.