B a u m a n R a r e B o o k s A p r i l 2 0 2 3 26 “The Mystic Chords Of Memory, Stretching From Every Battlefield, And Patriot Grave, To Every Living Heart And Hearthstone”: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, 1861 21. LINCOLN, Abraham. Inaugural Address of the President of the United States on the Fourth of March, 1861. Special Session. Senate. Executive Document No. 1. Washington, March 8, 1861. Slim octavo, modern threequarter black morocco, marbled boards. $8800. Rare second printing of Lincoln’s important first inaugural address, printed by order of the Senate four days after its delivery. On the morning of March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was escorted with little fanfare to his inauguration. On the platform erected at the Capitol’s east portico, “Lincoln put on a pair of steel-bowed spectacles and began reading his inaugural address in a clear, high-pitched voice that carried well out to the crowd of 25,000. The address was a document of inspired statesmanship. He reminded the South of his pledge not to interfere with slavery, but he firmly rejected secession—the Union was ‘unbroken.’ Finally he issued a grave warning [undiluted by his advisors, who recommended that Lincoln soften his martial tone]: ‘In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war… Abraham Lincoln was resolved to be President of the whole Union’” (Bruce Catton). Monaghan 102. Small inked numbering at lower margins not affecting text. A fine copy.
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