8vo. Disbound; light marginal toning; in chemise.

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST IMPRINT TO MENTION ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS THE SOLE AUTHOR OF A WORK.

On 17 January 1839, Abraham Lincoln, as a member of the Illinois General Assembly, issued a report and resolutions regarding the purchase of unsold federal lands. Lincoln proposed that "the said State [Illinois] be permitted to purchase all the lands within her limits belonging to the United States, at the present minimum price" and sell them to settlers and other purchasers for a small profit, thus creating a fund to pay interest on the debt of the State Internal Improvement Scheme which was beginning to crumble. Lincoln had yet to join the bar when he began his first stint in politics in the Illinois legislature in 1834. Lincoln would go on to serve four consecutive terms in the Assembly, concluding in 1841. Monaghan 1; Rubenstein, Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print, p. 29.

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California