NICOLAY AND HAY’S MONUMENTAL ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY OF LINCOLN, FIRST EDITION

NICOLAY, John G. and HAY, John. Abraham Lincoln: A History. New York: Century, 1890. Ten volumes. Large octavo, publisher's three-quarter brown morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut and largely unopened. $3500.

First edition of this magisterial biography, with ten frontispiece portraits of Lincoln, numerous maps and diagrams and over 300 wood-engraved illustrations, mostly portraits of dignitaries—many produced from Matthew Brady photographs—handsomely bound.

This early and definitive biography of Lincoln was the result of 15 years of collaboration by his private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay. "The plan was conceived in 1861; and before they began to write Nicolay had spent six years in collecting and arranging the elaborate mass of Lincoln papers loaned by Robert Lincoln… Prepared under the scrutiny of Robert Lincoln, and written by Republicans who were 'Lincoln men all through,' the work… stands as an impressive monument, not only because of the vastness of the undertaking, but also because of its enduring historical significance" (DAB). Monaghan I:1071. Eicher 409. Nicholson, 600.

Gatherings occasionally roughly opened. Small abrasion to rear board of Volume X. A nearly fine set, handsomely bound.