THE
WHITE HOUSE The History of an American Idea
H A SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION H
NEW FROM THE WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION IN CELEBRATION OF AMERICA
250
Sometimes a single book can chart the flow of styles down the years, as changing taste alters a single building. William Seale’s History of an American Idea is the perfect case. — the wall street journal
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eleased as a special limited collector's edition to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, historian William Seale’s acclaimed and pioneering architectural history, The White House: The History of An American Idea, traces the structural evolution of the President’s House, providing glimpses of long-vanished interiors with the largest selection of historical plans, prints, and photographs ever assembled in one book. Limited to 250 signed and numbered copies, this collector's edition is produced with the finest materials and specifications. The 385 page book is illustrated with nearly 400 images, printed on fine archival cotton paper, and embellished with gilded edges, translucent vellum chapter openings, and gold ribbon bookmarks.
about the cover painting by
Jamie Wyeth
I
n early 2000, as the 200th anniversary of life in the White House approached, the White House Historical Association commissioned a commemorative portrait of the White House by artist Jamie Wyeth, who chose to paint the house at dawn. The arrangements were made for him to make his sketches on the South Lawn as the sun rose over the house. From that vantage point, he made several drawings of what turned out to be a glorious sunrise. One of Wyeth’s rarely seen sketches of the South Portico is featured on the liner of the clamshell box that holds the collector’s edition and he has personally signed each copy. The completed painting, Dawn, The White House, 2000, reproduced on the cover of both the outer clamshell box and the book itself, features the spectacular dawn sunrise in yellow and orange.
The idea of the White House began to take shape in the last decade of the eighteenth century. . . . Ideas put it up, and ideas shaped it year by year . . . The White House has been pulled apart, rearranged, gutted by fire and renovation, and reassembled; yet it is always the same. Its idea has become its essence. —william seale
about the author
William Seale
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he late William Seale (1939–2019) was an American historian and author. He wrote extensively on the White House and is well known for his two-volume The President’s House; To Live on Lafayette Square: Society and Politics in the President’s Neighborhood; and A White House of Stone: Building America’s First Ideal in Architecture. He was the founding editor of White House History Quarterly. The Idea, a sewn cotton booklet produced exclusively for inclusion in the collector's edition, contains a collection of never-beforepublished reflections on the White House by William Seale. Newly rediscovered nearly seven years after his death, Dr. Seale’s moving contemplations on the subject of study he pioneered, the White House, were written in 1992 on the eve of the two-hundredth anniversary of the laying of the White House cornerstone.
collector’s edition L
limited to 25o copies
imited to 250 signed and numbered copies, the collector’s edition is produced with the finest materials and specifications. The special book is housed in a clamshell box lined with a sketch of the South Portico that bears an original signature by artist Jamie Wyeth. The 385 page book is illustrated with nearly 400 images, printed on fine archival cotton paper, and embellished with gilt edges, translucent vellum chapter openings, and gold ribbon bookmarks.
$2,500 • To reserve your copy, contact BOOKS@WHHA.ORG Founded in 1961 by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the White House Historical Association is the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization entrusted with preserving and sharing White House history. The Association is able to fulfill its mission through the sale of our educational books and products and the support of private philanthropy.