The Ten Commandments: Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral Code (Eleanor Roosevelt's copy)
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944.
Limited edition. Eleanor Roosevelt's copy, #6 of 150 copies signed by each of the ten authors on the limitation page tipped in at front: Thomas Mann, Rebecca West, Sigrid Undset, Andre Maurois and six others. xiii, [1], 488 pp. Custom bound in chestnut polished calf stamped in gilt on spine, boards, and turn-ins; Roosevelt's name stamped on front board. (Not signed or inscribed by her, though.) All edges gilt, maroon morocco title label to spine, printed endpapers, maroon ribbon marker. Very Good+ with light rubbing to extremities and heavy chipping to title label; front joint starting at upper end. Light scattered stains to fly-leaves; contents overall clean, binding firm. Buergin 568.
In the summer of 1942, the Austrian refugee and music publisher Armin L. Robinson invited ten prestigious writers to work on a new project: an anti-fascist propaganda film that would demonstrate that Nazi ideology violated each of the Ten Commandments. The deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer fell through, so Robinson decided to continue the project as a collection of ten novellas. Each writer took one amendment, with Thomas Mann leading the charge:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thomas Mann.
The book was published in December 1943. Reviewers felt that the collection was uneven and overly long, but still found much to praise, particularly in Mann's contribution. They all felt the moral imperative of anti-Nazi writing: "Here the world's pen is raised against the sword of the super-race," wrote the New York Times. Four years into the war, it had become clear that Hitler's conquest of Europe went well beyond territorial expansion and was an assault on civilization itself.
It is no surprise that Eleanor Roosevelt should own a copy of this limited edition, the text of which is taken from the third trade printing. Apart from being married to Hitler's chief opponent, Eleanor was an activist whose positive newspaper review of Mann's 1938 book The Coming Victory of Democracy had aided its success with the American public. The Roosevelts received Thomas Mann and his wife at the White House in 1941, and Mann, who admired the President's values and speechmaking, gave a speech on behalf of his reelection campaign in 1944. This copy of The Ten Commandments, bound for the First Lady's personal library, is a tribute to the shared principles of those towering figures.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Rebecca West.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Franz Werfel.
4. Remember to keep the sabbath day, to keep it holy. John Erskine.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother. Bruno Frank.
6. Thou shalt not kill. Jules Romains.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Andre Maurois.
8. Thou shalt not steal. Sigrid Undset.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Hendrik Willem Van Loon.
10. Thou shalt not covet. Louis Bromfeld.
Price: $15,000