Rare Album with 142 Signatures of Lincoln & Historic 19th C. Men
Item Details
A unique and large collection of 142 authenticated signatures from Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln’s cabinet, Union Generals, Abner Doubleday (the founder of baseball and an esteemed Union general), senators who served during the Civil War, and notable persons from the 19th Century, together in one book. The hardcover “Album” is bound in embossed leather by “Philadelphia, E.H. Butler & Co.”, circa 1850’s, and features gilded stamping on both the front and back covers, including spine, and embossed in gold the word, “Album.’ Inside of the front cover there is a gilded stamped border and a bookplate which depicts a knight in his full suit of armor with a plume upon his head, grasping a flag that reads, “Ex Libris.” The knight rides atop a horse clothed in a caparison, who is proudly walking above the owner’s printed name, Norman R. Freeman, Jr. M.D., which sits upon a shelf of books. The first page of the “Album” is a lithograph that contains images of the countryside with a cherub in each of the bottom corners and at the bottom “W. Dreser, del. Philadelphia. E.H. Butler & Co. T. Sinclair’s with. Philad.’ Each page of the “Album” has gilt edges.
The large collection of 142 authenticated signatures features men who played prominent roles in the Civil War and the late 19th Century. The signatures have either been written right in the book or cut out and glued onto the blank pages. The first signature in the collection is of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) and Commander in Chief of the Union Army during the Civil War. Next to his signature is the date, December 16th, 1863. Also included is the signature of Hannibal Hamlin, the Vice President of the United States during Lincoln’s first term. There are numerous signatures from members of Lincoln’s Cabinet including William H. Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State who was adamantly opposed to the expansion of slavery and wounded by Lewis Powell in the 1865 assassination plot at Ford’s Theater. Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln’s Secretary of War beginning in 1862 and continuing through the Civil War. Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of Treasury from 1861-1864, a staunch abolitionist, and the 6th Supreme Court Chief Justice in 1864. Lincoln’s Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair, from 1861-1864 and Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, who built up the Navy, carried out the blockade component of the Anaconda Plan, and contributed to the construction of the ironclad, USS Monitor.
Signatures of Union Generals includes General Abner Doubleday who was second in command at Ft. Sumpter under Major Robert Anderson. Doubleday aimed the cannon that fired the first return shot of the Civil War and he also fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Doubleday was instrumental in creating the American pastime, baseball. It was in Cooperstown, New York that Abner formulated the game of baseball. He did this in 1839. The Baseball Hall of Fame Museum has his actual lemon peel baseball on display. When he became an officer in the Civil War he provided baseballs and bats for the men to use to boost their moral. The men would play baseball as a pastime between battles. General Henry Hunt was Chief of the Artillery in the Army of the Potomac and an effective strategist at the battles of Antietam and South Mountain. General Alexander S. Webb, noted for his bravery and valor at the Battle of Gettysburg when he commanded troops that were positioned at Cemetery Ridge (center of the Union line) and effectively defended against Pickett’s charge. General George Meade, Union General of the Army of the Potomac and most noted for defeating General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Benjamin Butler, a politician and controversial General credited with the idea that fugitive slaves were considered “contraband.”
Alongside signatures of generals and Cabinet members there were notable poets, senators, and influential capitalists. Charles Sumner was a Senator from Massachusetts and a fervent abolitionist as evidenced in his speech, “The Crime Against Kansas” given in 1856. The speech denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act and it’s authors which included Andrew Butler. Butler’s distant cousin, Preston Brooks, who was an advocate of slavery and infuriated by Sumner’s attack on a member of his family, assaulted Sumner by repeatedly hitting him with a cane. Thomas Holliday Hicks, Senator from Maryland, played a crucial role in keeping Maryland a part of the Union. Henry Clay, Senator from Kentucky, was instrumental in developing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 which attempted to allay tensions between slave and free states. Oakes Ames, congressman from Massachusetts, is known for being one of the most influential people in building the Union Pacific section of the Transcontinental Railroad and being at the center of the Crédit Mobilier scandal. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was a physician and a professor, but best known for his poetry and essays in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table written in 1858. Not only is his signature in the “Album”, but the last stanza of his poem, The Flower of Liberty is written in with the date, March 3rd, 1864.
The signatures of aforementioned generals, senators, cabinets members, and notable persons are just the tip of the iceberg. Included with this unique “Album” is an exhaustive list of the 142 signatures in sequence as they appear in the book; please see photos of the signature list. The Letter of Authenticity by James Spence Authentication is also included.
Condition
-The leather cover is worn around the edges and corners.
-The spine does not feel loose. The raised bands, however, have much wear.
- Foxing can be seen on most pages, but does not interfere with the signatures.
- Front and back cover have fallen off and pages in the immediate front and back are falling out.
- A name is written in crayon inside the front cover.
Dimensions
- measured the “Album”
Item #
15CIN344-864
Additional Information
