Publisher: The Neale Publishing Company, Washington, D. C.
Publication Date: 1902
Format: Hardcover; original publisher’s red cloth; titles in white; facsimile of presidents signatures on the front cover.
Length: 176 pages
Size: approximately 5 ½" by 8".
Illustrations: frontispiece portrait of the author; 9 plates, one of each of the presidents Pendel served; each plate features a facsimile signature of each president.
Description: An extremely rare first edition 1902 memoir of Thomas F. Pendel (1824-1909), a White House doorman from the Abraham Lincoln administration to the turn of the 20th century. His thirty-six years involved friendships with nine presidents, and witnessing the first family's grief at the assassinations of three presidents: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley. Pendel was one of three doormen who foiled an 1881 assassination attempt on President Chester A. Arthur. This memoir includes one chapter on the White House during each of the administrations served by Pendel. An eleventh chapter describes the furnishings of the executive mansion. Pendel was White House Doorkeeper at the time of Lincoln’s assassination. Here, he recounts conveying the news of the events at Ford’s Theatre to Robert Todd Lincoln and John Hay, who remained at the White House that evening, including details of their reactions to the tragic news.
Condition: The binding is shaken. The hinges are cracked. One plate is free (R.B.Hayes, see photo). All plates remain. The cover shows some wear and darkening, particularly on the spine. The lettering on the spine is faded and unreadable. Some pages are untrimmed and have rough margins from the original opening of the pages. The first front endpaper has remnants of a bookplate. A few pages have stains. Occasional small, light pencil check marks or lines - easily erasable.