Abraham LINCOLN Rare Books and First Editions at Bauman Rare Books

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

“Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.”
--Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838 Lyceum Address

Widely regarded as one of the greatest American presidents, Lincoln material is highly sought after by collectors. Autograph material is sometimes available, and especially striking are official government documents signed by Lincoln as president. Early printings of key works in Lincoln’s career—the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address—demonstrate the “towering genius” of the humble Railsplitter.

“The President impressed me more favourably than I had hoped. A frank, sincere, well meaning man, with a lawyer's habit of mind, good clear statement of his fact, correct enough, not vulgar, as described, but with a boyish cheerfulness...”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson's Journal, February, 1862

His life cut short after the triumph of Lee’s surrender, works and ephemera about the first assassination of a president provide a glimpse into the nation’s mourning. His legacy was continued in the landmark edition of his works prepared by Nicolay and Hay, his personal secretaries.

Our current offerings on the 16^th President of the United States are below. If you are searching for something in particular, or would like recommendations, please email us

Found 16 books(s). Showing results 1 thru 16.

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EXTRAORDINARY EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED AND EXQUISITELY BOUND 24-VOLUME SET OF LINCOLN’S WORKS, WITH ONE VOLUME COMPLETELY DEVOTED TO ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS AND SIGNATURES, INCLUDING A RARE SIGNED SET OF LINCOLN SHIP'S PAPERS FOR A WHALING VESSEL AND SIGNATURES, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS BY VAN BUREN, BUCHANAN, PIERCE AND OTHERS

LINCOLN, Abraham. The Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. New York, 1905. Twenty-four volumes.

“New and Enlarged” edition of the Presidential Edition of Nicolay and Hay’s monumental collection of Lincoln’s works: a stated “unique extra-illustrated copy,” expanded from 12 volumes to 24 with more than four hundred plates—engraved and mounted portraits of Lincoln, his contemporaries and rivals; maps and views of Civil War battles; and printed manuscript facsimiles—beautifully and sumptuously bound in full morocco-gilt with inlaid morocco, Art Nouveau floral decorations, and a watercolor miniature of Lincoln’s log cabin home in every volume. With final volume containing a cut signature and a rare and desirable set of ship's papers for a whaling ship signed by Lincoln, a clipped signature of Martin Van Buren, ship's papers signed by James Buchanan, and over 30 additional document and signatures from such notable Americans as Charles Sumner, William Seward, Hannibal Hamlin and Robert Todd Lincoln. An altogether splendid, impressive and desirable production. $67,500.

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SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN: RARE OFFICIAL PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENT DATED JULY 7, 1863—ONLY DAYS AFTER GETTYSBURG AND VICKSBURG, AND THE SAME DAY HE DECLARED IN A SPEECH "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL"—ORDERING NEW YORK TO DRAFT THOUSANDS UNDER THE UNPOPULAR 1863 CONSCRIPTION ACT THAT TRIGGERED, LESS THAN A WEEK AFTER THIS DOCUMENT, THE BLOODY NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS

LINCOLN, Abraham. Document signed. City of Washington, July 9, 1863.

Fine July 7, 1863 official presidential order signed by Lincoln shortly after the Union's powerful but costly victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, here calling for New York to draft thousands of men under the controversial March 3, 1863 Conscription Act, a law that would provoke the bloody New York draft riots that erupted only six days after the date of this rare Civil War signed document. Handsomely framed with a portrait of Lincoln. $49,000.

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INTERESTING 1861 LETTER FROM GENERAL JOHN C. FREMONT AS COMMANDER OF THE WESTERN ARMIES DURING THE CIVIL WAR, PROMOTING AN OFFICER, LAWYER, AND ELECTOR FROM OHIO KNOWN TO LINCOLN TO THE RANK OF MAJOR, ENDORSED AND SIGNED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN

LINCOLN, Abraham. Autograph endorsement signed. Washington, DC, 1861.

An interesting Lincoln signed endorsement as President during the Civil War, on an autograph letter signed from renowned western explorer, military officer, politician, and Presidential candidate General John C. Frémont, writing as Commander of the Western Armies promoting Richard Corwine to Major, "subject to the approval and confirmation of the President of the United States," with Lincoln's endorsement on the verso: "Approved. A. Lincoln." A prominent Ohio lawyer and Republican elector, Corwine and Lincoln corresponded before the Republican convention; Corwine was a member of the Ohio delegation that famously changed a number of its votes to put Lincoln over the top as nominee on the fourth ballot. $25,000.

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SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN

LINCOLN, Abraham. Document signed. Washington, November 4, 1861.

Civil-War era document signed by President Lincoln and countersigned by Acting Secretary of State Frederick W. Seward, appointing John Clark as Consul to Singapore. $21,000.

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"FOR THE FIRST TIME LINCOLN HAD PUBLICLY DENOUNCED A DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT… FORESHADOWED THE APPROACH HE WOULD TAKE DURING THE SENATE DEBATES WITH DOUGLAS"

LINCOLN, Abraham. Speech… in Reply to Judge Douglas. WITH: DOUGLAS, Stephen. Kansas, Utah, and the Dred Scott Decision. Springfield, Illinois, 1857. Two items.

First separate printing of Lincoln's bold 1857 Speech, delivered two weeks after Stephen A. Douglas' provocative address on Dred Scott (included here), very rare together in original folio first printings, with Lincoln’s breakthrough Speech a clear assertion of the Declaration’s "all men are created equal" as a "maxim for a free society… and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere," leading up to his famous “House Divided” speech. $17,500.

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"THE MYSTIC CHORDS OF MEMORY": LINCOLN’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1861

LINCOLN, Abraham. Inaugural Address. Washington, March 8, 1861.

Rare second printing of Lincoln's important first inaugural address, printed by order of the Senate four days after its delivery. $8800.

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"A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND"

LINCOLN, Abraham. Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln. Springfield, 1858.

First and only separate printing of this "trial balloon" speech, in which Lincoln defines equality between blacks and whites, leading up to the famous series of debates with Stephen Douglas. First printings of any of Lincoln's speeches are quite scarce. $7800.

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"THE MOST POPULAR LINCOLN BIOGRAPHY YET WRITTEN": SIGNED BY SANDBURG

(LINCOLN) SANDBURG, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. New York, 1926. Two volumes.

Signed limited first edition of Sandburg's first biography of Lincoln, number 112 of only 260 copies printed, signed by Sandburg on the limitation page. $4000.

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HANDSOME LARGE CALLIGRAPHIC PORTRAIT LITHOGRAPH OF LINCOLN CREATED FROM THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

LINCOLN, Abraham. Emancipation Proclamation. Iowa, 1865.

Original large calligraphic portrait lithograph of Abraham Lincoln created from the text of the Emancipation Proclamation, with portions of the text highlighted to create a portrait of Lincoln clearly visible within the text, designed by W.H. Pratt. $3800.

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SCARCE 1864 LINCOLN PLATFORM BROADSIDE,“FOREVER PROHIBITING THE EXISTENCE OF SLAVERYWITHIN THE UNITED STATES”

LINCOLN, Abraham. The Platforms. No place, after August 29, 1864.

First broadside side-by-side publication of the Democratic and Republican platforms for 1864 election year (Lincoln v. McClellan), clearly referencing slavery as the cause of the Civil War. $3500.

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“ALL DESERTERS RETURNING WITHIN SIXTY DAYS… SHALL BE PARDONED”:
LINCOLN’S BROADSIDE PROCLAMATION RELATIVE TO PARDONS, 1864,
FIRST PUBLIC NOTICE

LINCOLN, Abraham. Proclamation Relative to Pardons for Deserters. Washington, 1864.

First public notice of the February 24, 1864 Presidential proclamation regarding deserters, appended to the amended conscription Act of 1863. $3500.

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FIRST EDITION OF DAVID BRAINERD WILLIAMSON'S LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1864

(LINCOLN, Abraham) WILLIAMSON, David Brainerd. Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln. Philadelphia, 1864.

First edition of this 1864 Lincoln campaign biography. $2800.

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LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION, "WHICH WAS MEANT TO SEVER" THE UNION, "BINDS IT MORE CLOSELY AND MORE FIRMLY THAN EVER"

(LINCOLN, Abraham) (BANCROFT, George). National Freedman… V.I, No.4. New York, 1865.

First issue of the May 1, 1865 issue of National Freedman, published shortly after Lincoln's assassination, featuring one of the earliest records of the nation's grief, along with George Bancroft's April 25 Oration delivered in New York's Union Square, and numerous documented accounts from the South on the dire needs of formerly enslaved families, as well as a report on a White House meeting between President Johnson and Bureau officials, especially scarce in original wrappers. $2500.

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"A GIGANTIC ASSASSINATION"

(LINCOLN, Abraham) BINGHAM, John A. Argument of John A. Bingham. Washington, 1865.

First edition of Bingham's eloquent arguments in the 1865 Trial of the Conspirators for the Assassination of President Lincoln. $2200.

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“BY FAR THE BEST”

(LINCOLN, Abraham) HOLLAND, Josiah Gilbert. Life of Abraham Lincoln. Springfield, Massachusetts, 1866.

First edition of Holland’s “timely and popular” biography of Lincoln, published the year after his assassination, with four steel-engraved plates, including frontispiece portrait of Lincoln, scarce in publisher’s three-quarter calf gilt. $850.

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INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY CARL SANDBURG

(LINCOLN) SANDBURG, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. New York, 1946. Two volumes.

Second trade edition, later printing, of the initial two volumes in Sandburg's monumental biography of Lincoln, inscribed by Sandburg on the front free endpaper of Volume I: "Robert and Kate Kestnbaum, Ever good wishes, Carl Sandburg, 1959." $750.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
Collation Process by which the contents of a book are inspected for completeness, checking against internal evidence, the table of contents and/or plate list, and reference works. Also a shorthand bibliographical description of a book’s composition by its leaves and signatures, rather than its pages. A-C, for example, would indicate a quarto volume composed of three signatures or gatherings of eight pages each for a total of 24 pages.
Colophon Printed note at the end of a text containing information about the printing of the book.
Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
Edition Print-run from a single setting of type without substantial change. Depending on demand, any number of printings can be made from a setting of type For example, a first printing might consist of 1000 copies, followed by a second printing of 2500 copies; in which case the book would have a first edition, first printing of 1000 copies, and a first edition, second printing of 2500 copies.
Endpapers Extra leaves—plain, colored or decorated—with which a bookbinder covers the insides of the book’s boards, therefore not part of the actual text block. The part of the leaf pasted to the inside of the front board is the front “pastedown,” while the other part of the leaf that forms the first page of the book is the “front free endpaper”; the same applies to the rear pastedown and rear free endpaper.
Engraving Illustration produced by carving lines into a metal plate. This is an intaglio process, in which ink is poured over the plate, then wiped from the surface, leaving ink only in the recesses made by the engraver’s tools. The image is then transferred by pressing thick dampened paper against the metal plate with great force—requiring engravings to be printed on a separate stock and separate press from any text.
Errata List of mistakes and corrections noted after printing, often compiled on a separate sheet or slip and inserted into the text block.
Flyleaves Additional blank leaves following or preceding the endpapers.
Folio Book composed of sheets that are folded once and printed on both sides, making two leaves and four pages. Typically above 14 inches tall. Oblong folios are produced the same way but bound at the short edge, producing a book typically more than 14 inches deep.
Fore-Edge Edge of the book furthest from the spine. Occasionally the text of a book will be put into a specialized book press and painted, often with a scene from the book or a landscape, so that the painting is invisible when the book is closed but visible when somebody bends the text and fans the pages—known as a fore-edge painting.
Foxing Light brown spots that naturally appear on some papers due to oxidation as they age.
Frontispiece An illustration facing the title page of a book.
Gathering Single sheet of paper that has been printed and folded to form the pages required by the book’s format. A single gathering of a quarto book, then, would be a sheet folded twice, containing four leaves, eight pages of text.. Gatherings are identified by a letter, symbol or number in the lower margin of the first page (the “signature”) to make it easy for the printer to stack them in proper order for sewing.
Gilt Edges The three exposed edges of a book have been smoothed and gilded.
Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
Illuminated Decorated by hand. Typically early printed books and especially manuscripts.
Imprint Satement of place, publisher and date of publication on a book’s title page.
Incunable From the cradle of printing, i.e., any book printed before 1501.
Issue A group of books issued by the publisher as a discrete unit. At times, issue refers to timing, such as the “first issue” being offered to the public at an earlier date than the “second issue.” At other times, it refers to specially planned different batches, such as the “trade issue” (widely available) in opposition to a “signed limited issue” (limited to a small amount of copies differing somehow from the trade issue and not widely available).
Japanese Vellum Expensive handmade paper often used in deluxe editions.
Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
Marginalia Handwritten notes made in the margins by a previous owner.
Mispaginated Printer’s error in pagination, typically skipping, transposing or repeating page numbers. Not uncommon in older, larger books, it is not considered a defect, so long as all integral leaves are present.
Modern Recently accomplished, when used to describe a book’s binding that is not the original casing. Some books bound recently are bound using techniques, tools and styles of the period of the book’s original issue; when done well this is called a period-style binding, a term that implies “modern” as well.
Morocco Binding material made from goatskin—versatile, durable, with a distinctive pebbled texture and visible grain. Readily stretched (“straight-grain”), crushed (flattened smooth), tooled in gilt or blind, inlaid with leathers of different colors. So-called because much of the raw material originally came from the tanneries of North Africa (other types of goatskin bindings denoting regions of origin include levant, turkey, niger).
Offset The unintended transfer of ink from one printed page to an adjacent page.
Period-Style binding executed with materials, tools and techniques to approximate the look of a contemporary binding from the period of the book’s publication. The term implies that the binding is modern, or recent, unless otherwise specified.
Plate Full-page illustration printed separately from but bound with the text.
Point Variation in text, illustration, design or format that allows a bibliographer to distinguish between different editions and different printings of the same edition, or between different states or issues of the same printing.
Presentation Copy Book given as a gift by its author, illustrator or publisher. Sometimes refers to a volume given by a notable donor.
Provenance History of a particular copy of a book.
Raised Bands Horizontal protruding strips found on the spine of a book.
Reback To supply a worn binding with a new spine, usually made of the same material as the rest of the binding and decorated to match. When feasible the binder may preserve the original spine and affix it to the new material, described as “rebacked with the original spine laid down.”
Recase To reattach a text block to its binding when it has become loose from its covers.
Recto The front side of a leaf. The back side is known as the “verso.”
Trade Edition Printing or printings of a book made available for purchase by the general public on publication day (as opposed to a limited edition, often available only by subscription).
Uncut When the edges of the text block (most apparent at the fore and lower edges) have not been trimmed to a uniform size, and are therefore characterized by a ragged or deckle edge. A book may be uncut but opened—i.e., with a paper-knife—but all unopened books (see below) are by nature uncut as well.
Unopened When the folds of the sheets of paper making up the text block have not been trimmed away or opened with a paper-knife. While this makes it impossible to read all of the pages, it also indicates a probability that the text block has not been altered since leaving the printer.
Vellum Binding material made from specially treated calfskin—durable, with a distinctive ivory color and smooth appearance. Can be tooled in gilt or blind. So-called Japan vellum (or Japon) is a type of thick paper that has been polished smooth and given a glossy finish to resemble vellum.
Verso The back or reverse side of a leaf or page. (See “recto.”)
Woodcut Illustration or textual decoration made by cutting away from the surface of a block of wood until the reverse of the image is left in relief; this is then inked and pressed to the paper to leave the image. The woodblock, or multiple blocks, can be fit into the page along with the type, allowing text and illustrations to be printed in the same print run and share the same page (not possible with engravings, which require thicker, damp paper and much more force; nor with lithographs, which require a different printing process altogether). Woodcuts preceded moveable type and are the earliest known printing technology.
Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
Wrappers Paper coverings—plain, marbled or printed—attached by stitches, staples or glue to a text block to identify it and afford it some protection (though much more fragile than a binding in plain, cloth or leather-covered boards). More typical of slim and/or inexpensive volumes such as pamphlets. “Self wrappers” are leaves, blank or printed, that are integral to the text block, conjugate with other leaves and from the same stock. “Original wrappers,” those attached at the time of issue, are scarce and extremely desirable to most collectors.