A Compilation of the Statutes of the State of Illinois, of a General Nature, In Force January 1, 1856. Collated with Reference to Decisions of the Supreme Court of Said State, and to Prior Laws Relating to the Same Subject Matter.

PURPLE, N. H. [Abraham Lincoln; William Herndon].

$20,000.00

Item Number: 124498

Chicago: Published by Keen & Lee, 1856.

First edition of Purple’s Statutes from the law library of Abraham Lincoln and William Herndon. Large octavo, 2 volumes, bound in full contemporary calf with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt. With Herndon’s ownership signature on behalf of the firm to the front pastedown of Vol. I, “A. Lincoln W. Herndon Lincoln & Herndon Springfield” and Vol. II, “Lincoln-Herndon.” Additionally with what are likely Lincoln’s scribbles to several pages including page 531 and 590-591. Lincoln was known to doodle in squiggly lines in his books and papers; in 2006 David Greenberg published Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, entirely devoted to the subject. In very good condition, lacking the title pages and with restoration and repairs to several pages. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable.

Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836, Abraham Lincoln moved to Springfield and began to practice law under John T. Stuart, his wife Mary Todd's cousin. He emerged as a formidable trial combatant during cross-examinations and closing arguments and partnered several years with Stephen T. Logan before beginning his practice with William Herndon in1844. Lincoln appreciated Herndon's friendship, loyalty, shared political beliefs and conscientious study and he contributed to the practice by performing research for his older and more experienced partner, building the firm's law library, and overseeing young men who came to study law (read the law) at their office. Lacking the title pages and the first 14 pages of Vol. II, restoration to some pages. Ownership inscriptions. Following Lincoln's assassination, Herndon began collecting stories of Lincoln's life from those who knew him with the aspiration of writing a faithful portrait of his friend and law partner. In 1899, he and collaborator Jesse W. Weik published Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life.