Abraham Lincoln: A History.

LINCOLN, Abraham) John G. Nicolay and John Hay.

Item Number: 71018

New York: Century Co, 1915.

Octavo, 10 volumes. Bound in three quarters leather over marbled boards, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, gilt topstain, marbled endpapers. With ten frontispiece portraits of Lincoln, numerous maps and diagrams and over 300 wood-engraved illustrations, mostly portraits of dignitaries—many produced from Matthew Brady photographs. In near fine condition. A very sharp set.

“One of the truly essential works on Lincoln, as much a history of the Civil War as a biography of the man who prosecuted it. Penned by his two personal secretaries, who knew him during the Springfield years and were at the heart of his administration, this set is a gold mine of primary material, contains secondary sources not found elsewhere, is well structured and well written, and for all its understandable biases, is “one of the greatest historical products of its era and is still a necessary source for Lincoln biographers" Mark E. Neely). This early and definitive biography of Lincoln was the result of 15 years of collaboration by Lincoln’s private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay. “The plan was conceived in 1861; and before they began to write Nicolay had spent six years in collecting and arranging the elaborate mass of Lincoln papers loaned by Robert Lincoln… Prepared under the scrutiny of Robert Lincoln, and written by Republicans who were ‘Lincoln men all through,’ the work… stands as an impressive monument, not only because of the vastness of the undertaking, but also because of its enduring historical significance” (DAB).