Levis

1917 · 94834 — Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie 1917. 1917. Good. ASSOCIATION COPY INSCRIBED TO WORLD WAR I PHILANTHROPIST MILDRED BLISS - Octavo bound in gray boards titled in gilt on a gilt-ruled label on the spine with the original front wrap & spine bound in. The lower sections of the binding are stained and the spine is rubbed & darkened. The edges of the covers are slightly darkened. Half-title title 1 leaf 256 & 1pages plus colophon & 1-page publisher's catalog. The bottom edges of the preliminary pages pastedowns & endpapers are very lightly stained and/or rippled. Good. <p>There is no statement of edition.<p>A great association copy inscribed by the author to America art collector and World War I philanthropist Mildred Bliss: "A Madame Bliss / en hommage respectueux."<p>Mildred Barnes Bliss 1879-1969 was an American art collector and philanthropist and one of the cofounders of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington DC. While living in Paris at the start of the First World War Bliss and her husband helped found the American Ambulance Field Service later the American Field Service in France to which they donated an entire section of 23 ambulances and three staff cars. They opened and equipped a central depot in Paris for the distribution of medical and surgical supplies and clothing. As vice-president of the Comite Franco-Americaine pour la Protection des Enfants de la Frontiere Mildred Bliss also helped establish centers in France for the care of Belgian and French children orphaned or displaced during the war. For her work during the war she was made a chevalier of the French Legion.of Honor.<p>A Mildred Bliss/Dumbarton Oaks book label is mounted on the front pastedown. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie, [1917]. hardcover