Books and Manuscripts

[Lincoln, Abraham]
Photographic Portrait
Circa early 20th century. Sepia-toned photograph mounted on beveled edge board, 8 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. (216 x 171 mm). Contemporary manuscript on verso, "Copyright / Geo. B. Ayres / Phila." Subtle embellishments added in ink to Lincoln's face and shirt. With contemporary large grey cardstock mount, now separated, 15 7/8 x 13 in. (403 x 330 mm); in contemporary frame, 17 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (451 x 368 mm). Ostendorf 26

A handsome example of Chicago photographer Alexander Hesler's iconic photograph of Abraham Lincoln. Originally taken on June 3, 1860, this image was one of four photographs Hesler took that day of the future president, in Springfield, Illinois. Only two weeks before this sitting, on May 18, Lincoln was nominated as the Republican Party presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention, held in Chicago, and in five-months time he would be elected to the presidency. In 1867, Hesler sold some of his original glass negatives to Philadelphia photographer George B. Ayres--saving the images for posterity, as Hesler's studio was destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Ayres began selling his own copies from the original plates in the 1880s, while also producing his own duplicate glass negatives. These glass plates were then irreparably damaged in 1933 while being shipped to Washington, D.C.