ABRAHAM LINCOLN. LS, “Abraham Lincoln”, in the hand of his secretary John Hay, 1 full page, small quarto, Executive Mansion, April 2, 1862. Michael Crock, Esq.

The Lincolns had just lost their son Willie to typhoid fever less than two months before this letter was written. Touched by his death, a kind Samaritan, Michael Crock, who otherwise has been lost to history, sent two white rabbits for Tad, the only Lincoln son still in the White House Robert being away at Harvard. In spite of his intense grief, Lincoln takes the time to thank Crock “…in behalf of my little son”:

Executive Mansion April 2, 1862 My Dear Sir Allow me to thank you in behalf of my little son for your present of White Rabbits. He is very much pleased with them. Michael Crock Esq. 860 N. Fourth St. Philada

Lincoln has signed this letter with his full name, an act usually reserved for official documents. In fact, it is so rare I cannot remember seeing more than half a dozen letters so signed. Most likely it was President Lincoln’s way of truly expressing his appreciation for the gift.

Provenance:

Oliver R.Barrett

Frederick Hill Meserve (from the sale of above)

George Rinhart

Bruce Gimelson to Private collector

Literature (a few of many sources):

Carl Sandburg. Lincoln Collector. The Story of the Oliver R. Barrett Lincoln Collection. Pp 169-170. New York, 1949.

The Oliver R.Barrett Lincoln Collection. Public Auction Sale. Lot 368, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc, NY, 1952.

Basler, Roy P., Marion Dolores Pratt, and Lloyd A. Dunlap, eds., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 9 vols. Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association; New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953. CW, 5:177

Harold Holzer. Tokens of Respect, How Abraham Lincoln Coped with Presidential Gifts. Illinois Historical Journal, Vol.77, No.3, (Autumn 1984), pp.177-192.

POR

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. DS, 1p, 4to, Washington, November 9, 1861. Authorizes the Secretary of State to affix the seal of the United States to "the envelope of a letter addressed to ' His Excellency Jose Joaquin Perez, President of the Republic of Chile'..."

$6,500

ABRAHAM LINCOLN and ULYSSES S.GRANT. Signatures of each on the first page of a Lippincott & Co. Civil War autograph album. Lincoln has signed in ink, Grant in pencil adding the words, Lt.Gen. USA. On the inside front cover is a ticket of admission to the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, dated May 12th, 1868. Housed in a full blue calf box with gold lettering on the face and the spine. All signatures are fresh and sharp.

This is only the second autograph page I have seen signed by both Grant and Lincoln.

The members of Lincoln’s cabinet have affixed their signatures to subsequent pages following Lincoln, all written on one side only in the following order with some adding words or dates:

William H.Seward, Auburn [Ill, Secretary of State], S(almon) P.Chase [Secretary of Treasury], Edwin M.Stanton [Secreatry of War], J(ohn) P.Usher, Indiana [Secretary of the Interior}, M(ontgomery) Blair, Maryland [Postmaster General], Gideon Welles, Connecticut [Secretary of the Navy], Edw. Bates of MO [Attorney General], H(annibal) Hamilin Wash., Mar 29, 1864

Also included in this historic little volume are over two hundred autographs of Senators and Congressman of the period including such luminaries as Henry Wilson, Lyman Trumbull, Thomas A.Hendricks,John Sherman, Charles Schurz, Benjamin Franklin Wade, Schuyler Colfax, James G.Blaine, and many other Civil War period legislators.

At the back of the book are several tickets of admission to the Columbian Exposition of 1893.

$22,500

Bronze standing figure of President Lincoln; 16 inches in height. Signed on base "Geo E.Bissell", and "Copyright 1898". "Gorham foundry mark on edge.

The large version of this rare bronze statue was erected in Edinburgh, Scotland in the Old Carlton Burial Ground as a memorial to Scottish-American soldiers who fell in the Civil War. Unveiled on August 21, 1893, this was the first monument erected to Lincoln on foreign shores. Wallace Bruce, the American consul in Edinburgh was responsible for raising the funds for statue.

Sold

Signed Photograph of William Osborn Stoddard, Secretary to President Lincoln from1861-1864
William Osborn Stoddard (USA, 1835 - 1925)

Photograph mounted on heavy card, the entire piece 11 1/4 x 8". Inscribed and signed, "William O.Stoddard, Madison, New Jersey, Nov.25th, 1923." On the verso is the logo of the photographer, W.C.and L.C.Parker of Morristown, N.J. Stoddard served as private secretary to President Lincoln from 1861 to 1864. He wrote numerous books on Lincoln such as "Abraham Lincoln Inside the White House in War TImes", plus nearly a hundred children's books. Most likely the largest known signed photo of Stoddard.

Provenance: Frederick Hill Meserve; George Rinhart

$850