Son of Swedish Prime Minister Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Ake Hammarskjöld pursued a career in the foreign service, helping determine Sweden’s place in the post-World War I order and representing his country at the Paris Peace Conference. Beginning in 1920, he worked for the newly established League of Nations, helping draft the Statute of Permanent Court of International Justice and being appointed registrar of the court in 1922, in which capacity he signed our sentiment about the necessity of an international legal organization. Hammarskjöld later taught at the Hague Academy of International Law and was elected a judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice in 1936. His brother, Dag Hammarskjöld, served as the secretary-general of the United Nations from 1953 until his sudden death in a 1961 plane crash on his way to negotiate a cease fire in the Republic of Congo.
Following the devastation of WWI, the World League for Peace was formed after taking its name from President Wilson’s 1917 Senate speech that bore the same title. Under the leadership of its president George Dejean, the organization assembled an anthology that included comments written about peace by notable persons from around the world. Between 1925 and 1932, entries were received from royalty, politicians, artists, musicians, and writers including Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, Marie Curie, Marconi, Einstein, Baden-Powell, King Faisal, Maginot, Colette, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Pirandello, Unamuno, Le Corbusier, Foujita, and Paul Signac. The collaboration led to the 1932 publication in Switzerland of a deluxe, limited-edition volume entitled Pax Mundi: livre d’or de la paix.
Minor paper clip impression in the upper left corner, otherwise extremely fine.
