Footprints, Signed by Brooke Astor to Monroe Wheeler
[Signed by Brooke Astor; Ex Libris Monroe Wheeler] Astor, Brooke. Footprints, An Autobiography. First Edition. 1980. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is warmly inscribed on the flyleaf, “For dear ***, with as always my devotion and gratitude for his friendship. Brooke. June 18, 1980.” Monroe Wheeler’s bookplate is attached to the front endpaper.
Monroe Wheeler, to whom this copy belonged, will forever be associated with the Museum of Modern Art, whereas Brooke Astor preferred its uptown rival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. However, they sometimes traveled in the same circles, and Wheeler would accompany Mrs. Astor to the ballet and visit her at her country home, Holly Hill. In this book, Mrs. Astor relates her life story, from her exotic childhood in Imperial-era Peking through an unhappy first marriage, a joyful second one cut abruptly short, through her final trip to the altar, cut perhaps mercifully short. In widowhood, however, she became the undisputed queen of New York, a position which her zest for living and sense of duty made her particularly well-suited.
“As you see, I have turned myself into a sort of Public Monument—a monument in the name of Vincent Astor.”
--Brooke Astor