“WORDS HAD TO COMPLETE THE WORK OF GUNS”: FROM THE DAY OF LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NOVEMBER 19, 1863, EXCEEDINGLY RARE PROGRAMME FOR THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG

(LINCOLN, Abraham). Programme of Arrangements and Order of Exercises for the Inauguration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, on the 19th of November, 1863. Washington: Gideon & Pearson, [1863]. Octavo (5-3/8 by 8-1/2 inches), printed bifolium, on blue paper. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box. $40,000.

Exceedingly rare original Programme of the inaugural ceremonies at Gettysburg, dated the day of Lincoln’s magnificent Gettysburg Address, listing his legendary words only as “Dedicatory Remarks,” a virtually unobtainable document.

Within weeks of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania governor Curtin and local civic leader David Wills, together with architect William Saunders, sought to honor those fallen in battle. Wills called upon Edward Everett, a figure famed for his eloquence, and invited him in late September to appear on October 23. But Everett, who devoted much research to his speeches, said he could not be ready until mid-November. Significantly, “the careful negotiations with Everett form a contrast, more surprising to us than to contemporaries, with the casual invitation to President Lincoln” that came nearly a month after Everett’s. On the evening before the dedication ceremony was to begin—a date named in this Programme of Arrangements as “the 19th of November, 1863”—Lincoln arrived by train in Gettysburg to see coffins were still stacked at the station, for only a third of the fallen soldiers had been buried. “Wills and Everett met the President and escorted him to the Wills home.” Early the next morning, as military formations described in this rare Programme began to assemble, Lincoln, still wearing a mourning band for his dead son, was joined by his secretary of state William Seward as they rode to the battle sites.

This exceedingly rare and virtually unobtainable document, printed by David Wills’ committee, offers exceptional insight into that momentous day, for Lincoln’s speech is listed far below Everett’s “Oration” on the Programme. “Though we call Lincoln’s text the Gettysburg Address… Lincoln’s contribution, labeled ‘remarks,’ was intended to make the dedication formal (somewhat like ribbon-cutting at modern ‘openings’). Lincoln was not expected to speak at length… [Yet] what should not be forgotten is that Lincoln was himself an actor… Lincoln’s text was polished, his delivery emphatic. He was interrupted by applause five times… Lincoln did for the whole Civil War what he accomplished for the single battlefield… The Civil War is, to most Americans, what Lincoln wanted it to mean. Words had to complete the work of guns… Without Lincoln’s knowing it himself, all his prior literary, intellectual and political labors had prepared him for the intellectual revolution contained in those fateful 272 words” (italics in original, Wills, 24-40). “Lincoln’s address… is immortal, one of the supreme utterances of the principles of democratic freedom” (PMM). This most rare item of ephemera from the day of Lincoln’s address consists of a printed octavo bifolium, on blue paper, with the embossed oval stamp of “Rhoades & Sons, London, Commercial.” This copy accords in every respect with other known copies. OCLC lists 4 copies: at Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, Indiana University, and Wisconsin Historical Society.

A few tiny marginal creases. Fine condition.