[Rarebooks] FS: INSCRIBED Helen Keller Association Copy

[Charles Agvent]

KELLER, Helen. HELEN KELLER'S JOURNAL 1936-1937. Garden City, NY: 
Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1938. First Edition. INSCRIBED and 
SIGNED by the author in pencil, as customary, on the front free endpaper 
"To dear Uncle Walter/with my love/Helen Keller/April 7th 1938." A 
superb association copy. Walter G. Holmes, referred to as "Uncle Walter" 
by most who knew him, was on the Board of Directors of THE MATILDA 
ZIEGLER MAGAZINE FOR THE BLIND, a philanthropic institution that 
published a magazine in Braille and distributed it monthly to tens of 
thousands of blind people at no cost to them. Holmes managed and edited 
the magazine. He was also on the Board of Directors of The American 
Foundation for the Blind and invented the "Talking Book" published by 
the foundation, possibly the first recorded readings of books. Holmes 
had a brother who was blind, and he devoted his entire life to helping 
the sight-impaired. He and Keller developed a strong relationship. Upon 
the death of Holmes, Keller gave a long tribute which parallels the 
themes of this book: "The passing of one of the tenderest, noblest 
champions that the blind of America and indeed of the world have ever 
had, has left me benumbed, and I am but one of a multitude who grieves 
for Walter G. Holmes. So far as I know he was unique. As a seeing 
spokesman of those who are both blind and poor, an editor of a world 
girdling Braille magazine, a tireless encourager of the dull and the 
faltering to explore and develop their dormant faculties, a fighter for 
the deaf-blind as human beings to be loved and understood, he had no 
equal in the annals of the sightless. God always gives where He takes 
away, and I am sure He will raise up a Gideon to lead the blind on with 
the irresistible might of the Spirit. 'Uncle Walter,' as we all 
affectionately called him, will keep forever his place in the hearts of 
us who have clasped his hand and felt his uncountable acts of love 
enriching our lives. He was a saint of the little and forgotten. Many 
varied, warm tributes have been written and spoken during Uncle Walter's 
life which especially pleased him. The best tribute we can pay now is so 
to live that he will be happy in his spiritual return to us. This, I 
know from his conversations and the stories he liked most, immortality 
was his silent wish. With him it was a feeling almost akin to 
transmigration. His soul seemed hardly to dwell in its own body, so 
constantly did it move into other's existence, taking their sorrow as 
its own and increasing their happiness. His whimsical humor, simplicity, 
enthusiasm for whatever work he was doing, and his modesty, his delight 
in tending flowers when he was able, his warm constancy in friendship, 
his quaint gallantries and his abounding good-will towards the blind 
everywhere, yes, even in enemy nations-- all these form an inseparable 
part of the mental picture we cherish of Uncle Walter. Let us then, try 
to believe more in ourselves, to enrich each other's faith and 
opportunities, to make blindness not a cause for pity, but rather for 
pride in victory over difficulties, and when Uncle Walter returns, 
though unseen to our earth orbit, he will be still happier in our 
gratitude and remembrance." Front endpaper slightly darkened; spine 
sunned with minor fraying at the top. Very Good, lacking the 
dustwrapper. (#020711)        $1,000

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/020711/helen-keller/helen-kellers-journal-1936-1937

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