Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

2 pp. on bifolium, 12 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (324 x 222 mm); accomplished in manuscript; creasing from old folds; a few small closed tears along the same; scattered soiling.

FIVE-LINE AUTOGRAPH ENDORSEMENT BY LINCOLN PENNED WHILE A SPRINGFIELD LAWYER, in his first legal practice with partner (and cousin of his future wife) John Todd Stuart (1807-1885).

A writ of fieri facias, directing the Sheriff of Sangamon County to seize goods belonging to James Manary and William Cassity in settlement of a debt, signed by clerk William Butler. Lincoln writes on verso: "Received on the within / $168-80 / March 30, 1839 / Stuart & Lincoln / Attorney for Plaintiff."

Stuart first met Lincoln during the Black Hawk War (see Lot 4) when the two served in the same Illinois regiment, and shortly afterward, both were elected to the Illinois State House of Representatives. Stuart admired Lincoln's skill as a politician and was the first to suggest he should read law, setting him on a path that culminated in being elected to the White House. The two men remained close friends until Lincoln's death, and Stuart recalled satirically later in life that "...I am going to live in posterity only as the man who advised Mr. Lincoln to study law and lent him his law books..." (Brown, Springfield Society Before the Civil War, p.490). Not in Basler; Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln 99924

Provenance:

Previously sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 25 March 1969, lot 339

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California