LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865) and Stephen A. DOUGLAS (1813-1861). Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, In the Celebrated Campaign of 1858, in Illinois... Columbus: Follett, Foster, and Company, 1860.
8vo. Original dark brown cloth, rebacked, preserving original spine and endpapers, corners bumped with minor old and worn repair to lower front board; dampstaining to title-page, ads, and contents leaf; spotting throughout; in quarter morocco pull-off case and chemise.
PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY LINCOLN IN PENCIL ON FRONT FLYLEAF: "R.M. Elder Esq. From A. Lincoln." Elder, a Justice of the Peace in Springfield, made speeches for Lincoln during the 1860 presidential campaign. FIRST EDITION, later issue, with rule above imprint on title, no press figure at bottom of p. 17.
THE MOST IMPORTANT DEBATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY. "Just as the printed Cooper Union speech was a major factor in the groundswell of support which swept Lincoln to the nomination, so were the published Debates a significant influence in his winning of the presidency six months later" (Leroy). The collected speeches became a bestseller, with approximately 30,000 copies in circulation by the time of Lincoln’s official nomination. Lincoln received one hundred copies from the publisher, many of which he inscribed for supporters. David H. Leroy’s recent study, Mr. Lincoln’s Book: Publishing the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, identified 42 copies inscribed or signed by Lincoln. Nearly all recorded examples, like the present one, are signed in pencil—Lincoln’s apparent preference due to the paper’s tendency to cause ink to spread or "feather." Leroy’s census found only four copies inscribed in ink.
According to the Harry Pratt census (1954) and the Doheny sale errata (1989), the inscription in this copy has been "retraced" in pencil. Upon further analysis, this overwriting only appears to be located in the upstroke of the "A" and in the downstroke of the "L". As the entire inscription is in pencil and is quite light, this could have been done by Lincoln himself.
Howes L-388; Leroy, Mr. Lincoln's Book, A Census 14; Monaghan 69; Monaghan, "The Lincoln–Douglas Debates," in Lincoln Herald 45:2-11; Pratt, "Lincoln Autographed Debates," in Manuscripts 6: 194-201; Sabin 41156.
Provenance:
R.M. Elder (presentation inscription from Lincoln), Justice of the Peace, near Springfield, Illinois.
Mrs. L.L. Arbuckle, Weir City, Kansas, granddaughter of the above.
King V. Hostick, Chicago, 1948 (pencil notation on rear paste-down).
St. John's Seminary Library, Camarillo, California.
Estelle Doheny (1875-1958), book collector (her morocco book-plate on front paste-down); previously sold, her sale, Christie's, New York, 21 February 1989, lot 2103.
Ralph Geoffrey Newman, Inc., Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Chicago, purchased at above.
Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California.
Exhibition:
The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, at the Huntington Library, October 1993-August 1994.
Property from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation