Farewell to Fifth Avenue. by Vanderbilt, Jr., Cornelius - 1935

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1935. First edition of Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.'s autobiographical portrait of his early years as a Vanderbilt. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, "To Mrs. Paul Hoffman with all good wishes - Cornelius Vanderbilt Feb, 1935." Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some light wear to the extremities. Upon turning thirty-five, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV determined to set down, without fear or favor, the story of his life, from his early life vacationing in Europe on his father's yacht North Star, to his military experience in the First World War and later experiences as a newspaper publisher. As the book's title implies, it was also Vanderbilt's point of no return in his rejection of the artifice of high society. Throughout the work Vanderbilt recounts encounters with a number of high-profile personages, some of whom he was able to interview on a trip to Europe in the early 1930s. These include President Franklin Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Benito Mussolini, Pope Pius XI, Joseph Stalin and Al Capone.