A reluctant if inevitable choice for the presidency, George Washington had hoped he might find some way to decline. After his brilliant leadership, however, any successor’s road to the nation’s highest office seemed as unsteady as America’s place in history. With the course of a presidential election eloquently described by Jefferson as a “bloodless revolution,” America’s leaders stand at the center of its very identity—even if, as Abigail Adams wisely pointed out, their election comes after the course of a “whole year” in which its citizens seem to hear “nothing else but abuse and scandal.”

As America prepares to choose its next president, Bauman Rare Books is especially privileged to offer this select group of important presidential books, speeches, treaties, correspondence, photographs and more. In the words of Lincoln, Madison, Grant, Reagan, Kennedy, Truman, Jackson, Clinton, FDR, Carter, Nixon, Wilson, Monroe and others—found in these exceptional items—we find confirmation of the ongoing strengths and difficult choices of America’s leaders, as well as affirmation of the “bloodless revolution” that continues to steadfastly author our future. Browse our inventory.