xt7jdf6k1641 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jdf6k1641/data/mets.xml Madigan, Thomas F., 1891-1936. 19  books b92-197-30611593 English [s.n., : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Autographs.Barton, William Eleazar, 1861-1930. Catalogue of Lincolniana  / with an essay on Lincoln autographs by William E. Barton. text Catalogue of Lincolniana  / with an essay on Lincoln autographs by William E. Barton. 19 2002 true xt7jdf6k1641 section xt7jdf6k1641 

  A CATALOGUE OF

lwnco tutana



















   THOMAS F. MADIGAN
 2 EAST 54TH ST., CORNER FIFTH AvE.
      NEW YORK, N. Y.
      Telephone: Wickersham 1812-3

 This page in the original text is blank.

 















A CATALOGUE OF
LINCOLNIANA


 






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                            :




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    B ed     ABAHM LICOLNs  



      t(e No. i6)              EY



                  Autogra.ph Letter of
                  ABRAHAM LINCOLN
                  to Cassius M. Clay
                     (See N.. i6)

 


  A CATALOGUE OF


  lincotniana

        with an essay on
    LINCOLN AUTOGRAPHS
            BY
THE REV. DR. WILLIAM E. BARTON



















   THOMAS F. MADIGAN
 2 EAST 54TH ST., CORNER FIFrH AVE.
      NEW YORK, N. Y.
      Telephone: Wickersham 1812-3

 










Abbreviations: A.L.S. - Autograph Letter Signed; L.S. - Letter Signed;
A.D.S. -Autograph Document Signed; D.S. -Document Signed; MS. -
Manuscript; n.d. - no date; n.y. - no year; 4to - quarto; Svo - octavo;
t2mo - duodecimo; pp. - pages. The autographs listed herein are guar-
anteed to be absolutely genuine and as described. Unless otherwise men-
tioned, all autographs are in excellent condition. Prices are net and
include carriage. Autographs will be sent on approval to responsible
persons without obligation to purchase. The autographs here described
comprise but a very small fraction of my stock. A list of your "wants"
will bring an interesting report.




































            PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AmERicA
                      THE TORCH PRESS
                         CEDAR RAPIDS
                              IOWA

 












G     REAT captains, with their guns and drums,
         Disturb our judgment for the hour,
            But at last silence comes;
      These all are gone, and, standing like a tower,
           Our children shall behold his fame,
      The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man,
      Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame,
      New birth of our new soil, the first American."

             - JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL:
                 Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration,
                 July 21, 1865.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


         LINCOLN AUTOGRAPHS
               By REV. DR. WILLIAM E. BARTON
             Author of "The Life of Abraham Lincoln," etc.
  A BRAHAM LINCOLN was a prolific writer. Specimens of
       his handwriting are extant from the days when as a school-
       boy he began to write and cypher, until the very day of his
death, under which date an infrequent signature comes now and then
into market. Not less than five times he wrote his youthful jingle:
                    Abraham Lincoln,
                      His hand and pen;
                    He will be good,
                      But God knows when.
  He may have learned this from his father, who, as a young man
may have copied it from one James Wilson when the latter was under
indictment charged with counterfeiting, and Thomas Lincoln was
employed to guard him. Wilson used this jingle, and became associ-
ated with the Lincoln family (for he was held not guilty of the
charge against him) and his daughter married John Hanks who later
split rails with Abraham Lincoln. That quatrain, popular at the
time, Abraham Lincoln picked up as a lad and wrote again and
again. He wrote remarkably well, too, considering the general nature
of his schooling and the implements with which he had to write. The
home-made ink has faded, but is still clear; and the goose-quill pens,
not always well pointed, served to make a signature unmistakably
genuine. As a boy he signed "Abraham Lincon," never "Abe Lin-
coln" or "Abram Lincoln." Later he almost always signed his letters
"A. Lincoln" and reserved "Abraham Lincoln" for his documents.
Once in a long time to a very near friend he signed "Lincoln." In
this form he signed his love-letters to Mary Owens, and sometimes in
a legal matter he signed a brief letter, "Lincoln."
  Lincoln wrote slowly and carefully. He did everything else in the
same way. His mind and body both moved slowly. His partner
                             vii

 


LINCOLNIANA



Herndon said that Lincoln's nerves had to run a long way through
dry soil to establish a connection between brain and hand. He did
not act on impulse; he thought and wrote and acted deliberately.
Yet his handwriting has a free, fluent quality, such as is usually
associated with rapid writing. His pen wrought rhythmically; his
thought though not rapid flowed with precision, and so did his pen.
  As he wrote, he pronounced his words aloud, or at least shaped
them with his lips. He had learned to read and write in "blab-
schools" where the pupils were required to study aloud, and he never
learned either to read or write in any other way. His partners in the
law-office were sometimes disturbed by this habit of his, but it was
incurable; and it had for him this value that he weighed his words as
he uttered them.
  Even in his early writings, after his style had taken on an approach
to a characteristic form, his letters are well shaped, and his lines are
evenly spaced and level. He made few corrections or interlineations.
He knew what he wanted to say before he wrote it, and while he cor-
rected carefully, it is surprising to discover how little of change his
corrections involve.
  His penmanship is so uniform, it is not strange that there has been
more or less attempt at forgery. His famous letter addressed to Mrs.
Bixby, expressing sympathy in the alleged death of her five sons, is
notable in several particulars, one of which is that the President was
misinformed; only two of her five sons had been killed in the army,
and another is that, while the letter is genuine as to its text, it is not
known that any human eye has ever seen the original since Thanks-
giving morning, 1863; the widely known so-called facsimiles are
copies of two forgeries, both, apparently, perpetrated by the same
man. Neither of these forged originals however, has been offered
for sale; the sale was of facsimiles made from zinc etchings. But not
many Lincoln forgeries have attained to wide circulation, except
those published in the Atlantic Monthly in December, 1928, and
January and February, 1929. In those it is evident, first that the let-
ters alleged to have been written by Lincoln and those published as
having been the work of two or three of his contemporaries are all by
the same hand, and that hand is not Lincoln's; and secondly, that
some at least of those letters are not ten years old.



viii

 

LINCOLNIANAi



  When Lincoln signed a letter "A. Lincoln," he often wrote the
entire name without lifting the pen; and when he signed it "Abraham
Lincoln" the name "Abraham" was often written without a break.
His capital "A" began in a loop at the bottom, and the main stem
was made with an upward stroke. In the Atlantic Monthly forgeries
the capital "A" was made with two downward strokes; and this was
far from being the only evident sign of a hoax. It is not very easy to
forge a Lincoln document in a manner that can defy detection. Even
without the signature, a Lincoln letter or document is usually capable
of identification beyond any reasonable doubt. There are few auto-
graphs which a collector may buy with more reasonable assurance of
genuineness than those of Lincoln.
  Furthermore, if the rise in prices in recent years affords any basis
for a prediction of what may be expected in future, those of us who
have spent rather more of our hard-earned cash for Lincoln auto-
graphs than we could afford have made not only a safe but a highly
profitable investment. As I compare my own modest purchases with
present auction prices I gloat over the wealth I might possess if I sold
them, and the greater wealth that is mine in that I have no intention
of selling.
  Lincoln's legal and political contacts resulted in a very large cor-
respondence. Not only are his own letters of unfailing interest, but
letters addressed to him, and letters about him, are informing and
valuable. The material that is in the Library of Congress holds out
some hope to the next generation of Lincoln authors. The locked
cases of material deposited there by Robert T. Lincoln contain, how-
ever, practically nothing in Lincoln's own hand that was not used by
Nicolay and Hay. An estimate, made upon reliable information is
that ninety-eight percent of all that Lincoln himself wrote and that
Robert T. Lincoln gave over to Lincoln's former secretaries was
utilized by them, and what remains that was inadvertently overlooked
is relatively unimportant. But the manuscripts include a very con-
siderable amount of unworked material in the form of letters to or
about Lincoln. This will come to light and doubtless will be used
when the period set by Robert T. Lincoln ends. Scholars now at
work on Lincoln will not see it, and may console themselves with
such sour-grape satisfaction as they find in the assurance that these



is

 


LINCOLNIANA



sources reveal Lincoln mainly as he is reflected in the writings of
others, and not as he disclosed himself directly.
  The pen of Lincoln was busy almost to his last conscious hour.
There were many matters of routine which required his attention,
but his free time after the surrender of Lee's army April 9, and his
assassination April 14, was given to the examination of papers relat-
ing to men who had served in the Confederate army, or had com-
mitted other disloyal acts, and who had not been permitted to take
the amnesty oath. Lincoln was eager to get every man out of jail and
back upon his own farm before these cases passed over to the civil
courts, as some of them were certain to do. It was no part of his
official duty to review these cases, in which the previous record of the
men was so bad, or a suspicion that they intended to take the oath
"from the teeth out" seemed so well-founded, that army officers had
refused to release the prisoners. On the tenth, eleventh and twelfth
of April, Lincoln examined a good many of these cases, and wrote in
his own hand concise orders to admit the prisoners to the privileges
of the Oath of Amnesty. On the thirteenth, as though some fateful
premonition warned him that he must work more rapidly, he called
in John Hay, who wrote "Let this prisoner take the oath of Dec. 8,
1863, and be discharged," and Lincoln signed the endorsements "A.
Lincoln." He did not take time to write his name in the full official
form. Friday was an extremely full and busy day, but even on that
last day, amid all the official cares, he found time for a few acts of
mercy. He did not issue these pardons recklessly; short as the
endorsements are, they show that he examined the cases with care.
He used his best judgment, but that judgment leaned heavily to the
side of sympathy and love of humanity. His last day of life was, as
the life itself had been, one of mercy and kindness. Whoever possesses
one of those little endorsements issued during the last week of Lin-
coln's life, has a drop of his very heart's blood, and may well cherish
it as a sacred memento of a President who fought a cruel war and
loved the men he fought, and never abused his great power except
when he was constrained to perform an act of mercy.
The Lincoln Room,
Pine Knoll on Sunset Lake,
Foxboro, Massachusetts.



x


 


                 LINCOLNIANA

                                    1
LINCOLN, THE POET; HE TRANSMITS HIS FAVORITE
    POEM, "OH, WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MOR-
        TAL BE PROUD", AND PROMISES SOME
                POETRY OF HIS OWN MAKING

LINCOLN, Abraham. The Great Emancipator; President U. S.
     A.L.S. I p., 4to. Springfield, February 24, 1846. To Andrew
     Johnston.                                                2,500.00
     ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE LETTERS OF THE GREAT
PRESIDENT EVER OFFERED FOR SALE. It accompanied a copy of his favorite
poem, Knox's "Mortality," which Lincoln had made for Andrew Johnston, his friend
and co-laborer in the field of rhyme. It was to Johnston that Lincoln shortly afterwards
sent the various products of his poetic pen, the celebrated "Bear Hunt," his verses on
the madness of Matthew Gentry, and the poem, alluded to in this letter, which he had
been inspired to write by a visit to the home of his boyhood in Gentryville, Indiana,
during the Clay campaign. Knox's doleful observations on "Mortality," better known
by its first line and dominant query, "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud ",
was recited by Lincoln more frequently than any other poem, more often in fact than
all other poetry combined. Of it, Lincoln wrote, "I would give all I am worth, and go
in debt, to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is." The verses of his own
making, to which Lincoln refers in this letter, he sent to Johnston the next time he
wrote to him. These were the stanzas beginning, "My childhood's home I see again,"
which the amateur poet confesses to having "a deal of trouble to finish." (See letter of
18th April, i846, in Lincoln's Complete Works, vol. I, pp. 85-6.)
     Lincoln was always a poet, but in the twenty years that elapsed between the
writing of these "poems" and the production of the Gettysburg Address and the Second
Inaugural, the doggerel habit was outgrown. The essential poetry of his later prose -
letters, state papers and public addresses-has little in common with the versifying
efforts of the thirty-seven year old lawyer and candidate for Congress. More than
once after a successful political contest did the Lincoln of "the prairie years" turn to
the making of verses as a sort of mental relaxation. It is not surprising, therefore, to
find in this remarkable letter, written only a few days after the withdrawal of General
Hardin from the fight for the Congressional nomination, that the future President is
      Price includes the letter of Andrew Johnston, description of which follows on
next page.
                                    I

 



2



LINCOLNIAINA



"feeling a little poetic" and takes advantage of a propitious moment to send his friend
the promised copy of his favorite poem.
      A transcript of the letter follows:           "Springfield, Ills.,
Dear Johnston:                                             Feb. 24, 1846.
      Feeling a little poetic this evening, I have concluded to redeem my promise this
evening by sending you the piece you expressed the wish to have. You find it enclosed.
I wish I could think of something else to say; but I believe I can not. By the way,
how would you like to see a piece of poetry of my own making I have a piece that is
almost done, but I find a deal of trouble to finish it.
      Give my respects to Mr. Williams, and have him, together with yourself, to
understand, that if there is any thing I can do, in connection with your business in the
courts, I shall take pleasure in doing it, upon notice.  Yours forever,
                                                              A. LINCOLN."
      The letter bears the following signed endorsement in Johnston's handwriting:
      "The foregoing was written by Abraham Lincoln, Esq. from Springfield, Illinois,
to me at Quncy, Illinois, at the time of its date.
Richmond, Va., 2 March, 1872.                           ANDREW JOHNSTON."
JOHNSTON, Andrew. Intimate Friend of Lincoln, to whom were sent his early
      poetical compositions, the celebrated "Bear Hunt," etc. A.L.S. 4pp., 8vo. Rich-
      mond, Va., March 7, 1872. To H. Hough. (To be sold with preceding letter.)
      A LONG AND EXCEEDINGLY INTERESTING LErrER describing Johnston's early
association with Lincoln when both men were circuit court lawyers in Illinois. This
letter accompanied the Lincoln A.L.S. described above, which Johnston was sending
to his correspondent. It reads in part:
      ". . . I send you a letter from the late President, Abraham Lincoln, to me,
written in the days when we were both circut court lawyers in Illinois, with the occa-
sional run of the Court of Appeals of the State and the U. S. Courts of that District.
Lincoln, however, occupied a much more distinguished position than myself, being a
resident of Springfield, and a constant attendant of the higher courts, as well as a
prominent and influential member of the Legislature. But it did not in those times ever
occur to me, nor do I think it did to him, that he was destined to rise so high in public
office. Like many other men, he was somewhat indebted to fortune and opportunity-
was it good fortune
     At all events, we were intimate then and had a great mutual liking, which never
decayed; and of which (on his part) I received tokens during the war in his kindness
to my relations and his messages thro' them to myself. Nay, even in the last day of his
life, he mentioned my name to a mutual friend and regretted that I did not come to
see him in Richmond. The fact was that I did go, but, being wholly unknown to the
Federal sentinels, they would not let me pass into the house, and would not even send
in a card from me. This our friend explained to him and after his death wrote to me
to that effect.
  Perhaps I have dwelt too long on this matter. But I am aware that the natural
result of the war, and the feelings which grew out of it, have given us of the South
an unjust view of Lincoln's character, except in case of a personal acquaintance like
myself." Etc.
                                       2
LINCOLN, Abraham. A.D.S. "Logan  Lincoln." Ip., 4tO. (Feb-
     ruary 29, 184.4.)                                                 275.oo
     FINE LEGAL DOCUMENT, CONSISTING OF APPROXIMATELY
EIGHTY WORDS IN LINCOLN'S HANDWRITING. An order to the clerk

 



LINCOLNIANA



3



of the Sangamon circuit court to issue process in a civil suit. This document was written
by Lincoln during the period of his law partnership with Judge Logan, which began
in 1841 and lasted for four years. It was in these years that Lincoln developed his
powers and grew to be one of the most formidable lawyers in Illinois.

                                   3

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.D.S. "Logan  Lincoln." 2pp., folio.
     October, i844.                                             475.00
     A FINE LONG LEGAL DOCUMENT OF EARLY DATE, CONSIST-
ING OF APPROXIMATELY FIVE HUNDRED WORDS, ENTIRELY IN
LINCOLN'S HANDWRITING. AS FINE A MEMENTO OF HIS CAREER
AT THE ILLINOIS BAR AS ANY COLLECTOR OF LINCOLNIANA
COULD HOPE TO OBTAIN. The document, which is the plea in a civil suit
entered by Lincoln and his partner, Stephen T. Logan, as attorneys for the plaintiff,
was written by Lincoln a short time before the dissolution of his law partnership with
Logan. This association, although it continued only four years, left a lasting impression
on the young Kentuckian. Under the influence of his elder partner, a severe and orderly
practitioner of the old school, with a straight-forvard devotion to his profession, Lin-
coln began to train and discipline the enormous faculty, hitherto latent in him, for
close and sustained intellectual labor. In the following year, Lincoln opened his own
office, into which he invited the brilliant young William H. Herndon, who remained
his partner as long as Lincoln lived, and who subsequently wrote the great President's
biography.

                                   4

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.D.S. "Harlan  Lincoln." Ip., 4to. Oct.
     1o, t84S-                                                  375-00
     INTERESTING LEGAL DOCUMENT, being the plea in a civil suit put
in by Lincoln and his associate, Harlan, as attorneys for the defendant. There are
approximately sixty words in this document in Lincoln's handwriting. THIS IS ONE
OF THE RAREST OF LINCOLN LEGAL ASSOCIATION OR PARTNER-
SHIP SIGNATURES.

                                   5

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.D.S. "Lincoln  Herndon." ip., sm.
    4to. (Circuit Court of Sangamon County, Ill.), February,
    1846.                                                      375.00
    SPLENDID SPECIMEN OF A LINCOLN LEGAL DOCUMENT, being
an answer in a replevin suit by Lincoln and his partner, Herndon, as attorneys for the
plaintiff. This fine document consists of approximately 135 words in Lincoln's hand-
writing, and was drawn up by the future President at one of the most critical periods
of his political career. During this month of February, 1846, Lincoln was in the midst
of his struggle to secure the Whig nomination for Congressman.

 


4



LINCOLNIANA



                                    6
LINCOLN, Abraham. A.L.S. 'p., 4t0. Springfield, April 26,
     1846. To Judge James Berdan; with address.                1,250.00
     A MOST INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT POLITICAL LETTER
WRITTEN BY LINCOLN FOUR DAYS BEFORE HIS NOMINATION
FOR CONGRESS BY THE WHIG CONVENTION AT PETERSBURG,
ILLINOIS. The letter is addressed to Judge James Berdan, an influential Whig of
Morgan County, and refers to the bad feeling that had been stirred up in Whig circles
as a result of the spirited fight for delegates which followed upon General Hardin's
announcement of his candidacy for renomination for Congress in opposition to Lincoln.
Factional feeling ran so high in the Whig ranks that a serious split must have occurred,
had Hardin not withdrawn from the contest. That Lincoln was anxious to do all in his
power to heal the wounds and prevent further domestic strife in the Whig family is
clearly shown by this unusually interesting letter, a complete transcript of which follows:
                                                "Springfield, Ills.,
Jas. Berdan, Esq.                                     Apr. 26, i846.
    Dear Sir:
    I thank you for the promptness with which you answered my letter written from
Bloomington. I also thank you for the frankness with which you comment upon a cer-
tain part of my letter; because that comment affords me an oppportunity of trying to
express myself better than I did before, seeing, as I do, that in that part of my letter,
you have not understood me as I intended to be understood. In speaking of the 'Dis-
satisfaction of men who yet mean to do no wrong, etc.' I meant no special application
of what I said, to the Whigs of Morgan, or of Morgan and Scott. I only had in my
rmind the fact, that previous to Genl. Hardin's withdrawal, some of his friends and
some of mine, had become a little warm; and I felt, and meant to say, that for them
now to meet face to face and converse together, was the best way to efface any rem-
nant of unpleasant feeling, if any such existed. I did not suppose that Genl. Hardin's
friends were in any greater need of having their feelings corrected than mine were.
Since I saw you at Jacksonville, I have had no more suspicion of the Whigs of Morgan
than of those of any other part of the District. I write this only to try to remove any
impression that I distrust you and the other Whigs of your country.
                                      Yours truly,
                                                       A. LINCOLN."

                                    7

      LINCOLN, CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS AND
                  CONSCIENTIOUS LAWYER

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.L.S. Ip., 4to. Springfield, May 7, 1846.
     To Judge James Berdan; with address.                       :,2So.00
     VERY FINE LETTER TO THE JUDGE OF THE MORGAN COUN-
TY COURT, written a few days after Lincoln's unanimous nomination on the Whig
ticket for Representative in Congress of the Sangamon district in Illinois. The letter
consists of about one hundred and fifty words entirely in Lincoln's handwriting, and
reads as follows:


 























      A2 A_ i




d,c

























        Autfigraph Ltet, of
        ABRAHAM LINCOLN
        to james W. Somer s
           (see No. so)

 This page in the original text is blank.

 



LINCOLNXIXN A



5



                                             "Springfield, May 7th, i846
Jas. Berdan, Esqr.
Dear Sir:
    It is a matter of high moral obligation if not of necessity, for me to attend the
Coles and Edgar courts. I have some cases in both of them, in which the parties have
my promise, and are depending upon me. The court commences in Coles on the second
Monday and in Edgar on the third. Your court in Morgan commences on the fourth
Monday; and it is my purpose to be with you then, and make a speech. I mention the
Coles  Edgar courts, in order, that if I should not reach Jacksonville at the time
named, you may understand the reason why. I do not, however, think there is much
danger of my being detained; as I shall go with a purpose not to be and consequently
shall engage in no new cases that might delay me.
                                      Yours truly,
                                                        A. LINCOLN."

                                    8

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.D.S. On ip., oblong 4to. portion of a
     legal document. (Circa 1846.)                                 350.00
     INTERESTING EARLY LINCOLN ITEM, being Lincoln's endorsement
of a certificate made by Judge Samuel H. Treat of the Illinois Supreme Court, and
written as follows: "At the request of Mr. Crosby, I most cheerfully state that I concur
fully in the foregoing certificate of Judge Treat. It is thought not improper for me to
add that I am the Representative to Congress for the District in wvhich Mr. Crosbv
resides. A. LINCOLN." A FINE MEMENTO OF LINCOLN'S SINGLE
TERM OF SERVICE IN CONGRESS. The certificate of Judge Treat is not
present.

                                    9

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.L.S., with postscript signed "A. L."
     Ip., 4to. Springfield, April 7, 1849. To the Secretary of the
     Home Department.                                            r,6so.oo
     A SPLENDID LINCOLN LETTER MENTIONING TWO OTHER
PRESIDENTS, POLK AND TAYLOR, and written shortly after Lincoln's return
to his law practice in Springfield at the end of his term in Congress. He recommends
that Walter Davis be appointed Receiver of the Land OfFice at Springfield when a
vacancy shall occur.
                                                 "Springfield, Ills.,
Hon. Secretary of the Home Department.                  April 7, 1849.
  Dear Sir:
     I recommend that Walter Davis be appointed Receiver of the Land Office of this
place, whenever there shall be a vacancy. I can not say that the present incumbent, Mr.
Herndon, has failed in the proper discharge of any of the duties of the office. He is a
very warm partizan; and openly and actively opposed the election of Gen. Taylor. I
also understand that since Gen. Taylor's election he has received a re-appointment from
Mr. Polk, his old commission having expired. Whether this is true, the records of
the Department will show. 1 may add that the Whigs here, almost universally desire

 



6



LINCOLNIANA!



his removal. I give no opinion of my own, but state the facts, and express the hope that
the Department will act in this, as in all other cases, on some proper general rules.
                                      Your obt. Servt.,
                                                    A. LINCOLN.
 P. S. The land district to which the office belongs is very nearly if not entirely within
 my district, so that Col. Baker, the other Whig representative claims no voice in the
 appointment.
                                                              A. L."
                                    10
 LINCOLN, Abraham. A.L.S. Ip., 4tO. Springfield, Illinois, April
      13, 1849. To the Secretary of the Home Department at Wash-
      ington; with franked address.                                65o.oo
      FINE LINCOLN LETTER CONSISTING OF ABOUT SIXTY
 WORDS entirely in the great President's handwriting and written shortly after his
 return to Springfield following the close of his term in Congress. The letter refers to
 the appointment of two men to posts in the Land Office at Springfield, and reads as
 follows:
                                                 "Springfield, Ills.,
 Hon. Secretary of the Home Department.                April 13, 1849.
 Dear Sir:
      Under date of the 7th inst., I forwarded to you in separate letters, recommenda-
 tions that Walter Davis be Receiver, and Turner R. King Register, of the Land Office
 at this place. For a personal reason, of no consequence to the Department, I now wish
 to transpose those recommendations; so that Davis may stand for Register, and King
 for Receiver.
                                      Your obt. Servt.,
                                                  A. LINCOLN."
                                    11
LINCOLN, Abraham. A.D.S. "Logan  Lincoln  Herndon."
     ip. oblong 4t0. (March 21, i85o.)                           475.oo
     AN INTERESTING LEGAL DOCUMENT WITH A MOST UNUS-
UAL FORM OF SIGNATURE, being a plea in behalf of the defendant in a civil
suit, and consisting of about seventy-five words entirely in Lincoln's handwriting. The
Logan associated with Lincoln and Herndon in this suit was Judge Stephen T. Logan,
with whom Lincoln had formed a partnership in I841. This connection was dissolved
four years later, but the benefit which Lincoln derived from it lasted all his life. Lin-
coln continued a close and intimate friend of his old partner, and they practiced at the
same bar for twenty years, often as associates.

                                   12

LINCOLN, Abraham. A.L.S. ip., oblong i2mo. (Springfield,
     circa i8So.)                                                 45o.oo
     FINE LEGAL LETTER ENTIRELY IN THE GREAT PRESIDENT'S

 



LIN COLNIANA



7



HANDWRITING. It accompanied another letter which Lincoln is referring to one
of his clients. He advises the latter to employ other counsel.
"R. Lloyd, Esq.
     You see the purport of the within letter. I can do no more in the case. I think you
had better employ another - either Judge Logan here, or Judge Purple at Peoria, and
let him correspond with Grimshaw at once.
                                      Yours truly,
                                                    A. LINCOLN."

                                    13
LINCOLN, Abraham. A. L. S. I p., 4to. Pekin, (Il.), October 3,
     1853. To Peter Doty, Clerk of the Court, Woodford County, Il-
     linois; with address.                                          450.00
     A DESIRABLE SPECIMEN, BEING A SHORT LETTER, entirely in
Lincoln's handwriting, enclosing a writ which he is returning to the clerk of the court,
to be placed with other papers in a civil suit with which Lincoln was concerned as attor-
ney. A fine memento of the years immediately following his return from Congress, when
the future President was devoting himself assiduously to his law practice, his interest in
politics having to some extent subsided. It was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
in the following year that aroused Lincoln once more and awakened his energies to
renewed political activity.
     The letter reads as follows:
                                                     "Pekin,
Peter Doty, Esq.:                                        Oct. 3, 1853.
  Dear Sir:
     Herein is the writ in the case of Hall against Wilson which I brought off to get
the Sheriff's return amended. Please place it with the papers again.
                                 Yours truly,
                                                     A. LINCOLN."

                                    14
LINCOLN, Abraham. A.L.S. Ip., 4to. Springfield, June 1o, i858.
     To Samuel Wilkinson; with addressed envelope.               i,650.00
     HIGHLY INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT HISTORICAL LET-
TER REFERRING TO THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN ILLINOIS IN
1858. The revolt of Douglas combined with the growing Democratic weakness and the
increasing Republican ardor and strength made Illinois the field of a local contest
which for the moment held the attention of the entire country because it presaged a
possible Republican success in the coming Presidential election. The Republican state
convention which Lincoln mentions in this let