8vo (169 x 114mm). (Occasional soiling or minor discoloration from adhesives, etc.). Contemporary morocco gilt, with owner’s name lettered on upper cover (“R. C. Scanland”). Provenance: Robert C. Scanland (see below).

INCLUDING THE SIGNATURES OF THREE PRESIDENTS, comprising: ABRAHAM LINCOLN (“A. Lincoln”), ULYSSES S. GRANT (“U. S. Grant / Maj: Gen. / U.S.A. / Cairo, 1863”), and JAMES A. GARFIELD (“J. A. Garfield / Hiram, Ohio”). Also includes signatures by John G. Nicolay (on same page as Lincoln signature), Brigadier Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, Schuyler Colfax, Major Gen. Napoleon J. T. Dana, James M. Tuttle, John M. Palmer, Chauncey Lawson Higbee, and numerous others, many from the Illinois area (Pittsfield, Cairo, Alton, Hiram, etc.). 

 

Robert Caldwell Scanland (1825-1895) was an old acquaintance of Lincoln’s during his years as a lawyer in Springfield, and according to an article clipped from The Peoria Journal, Feb. 18, 1896 (included with this lot) the signature (along with Hay’s) was obtained during a visit with his son to the White House in 1862. Another highlight is the signature of Ulysses S. Grant who adds "Maj. Gen. U.S.A. / Cairo, 1863". Beneath, in another hand, likely Scanland's, the provenance of where and when the signature was obtained: "on board Steamer 'City of Alton' enroute for Vicksburg”. The first page of the book contains a mounted carte-de-visite albumen portrait of Scanland, inscribed and signed on mount below, dated May 1863. Also includes some other Scanland family signatures, and pieces of ephemera including a clipped poem from a newspaper in tribute to Lincoln and a ribbon from the re-union of the 21st Illinois Volunteers.

 

Interestingly, in preparation of Lincoln’s arrival in Pittsfield while campaigning for Senate against Stephen Douglas in October 1, 1858, Robert Caldwell Scanland and Charles Roger Lame were practice firing a campaign cannon, which was a tradition of the day, which led to an unfortunate mishap which resulted with Lame’s face being burned and his arm badly mangled by the ramrod.