signed first edition Original boards
1911 · New York
by LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. MESERVE, FREDERICK HILL
New York: Privately Printed, 1911. First edition. Original boards. Very Good. VERY RARE HISTORIC COLLECTION OF MOUNTED GELATIN SILVER PRINTS OF LINCOLN, ONE OF ONLY 102 COPIES, PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS. JOHN WANAMAKER'S COPY. The image of Abraham Lincoln has become an icon not only within the United States but around the globe. With photographic techniques developing quickly across Lincoln’s lifetime, photographic portraits of the sixteenth president proliferated as he rose to office in the mid-nineteenth-century. Frederick Hill Meserve, a New York textile executive and photograph collector, took it upon himself to assemble and organise systemically the scores of negatives that were produced before Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. Amassing one of the largest collections of Lincoln photographs, Meserve first published his collection (supplemented with important photographs from other collections) in 1911 as the monumental The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln, with over 100 photographs tipped in, largely developed from the original negatives, many of which were from the studio of the famed American Civil War photographer Mathew B. Brady.
In contrast to re-drawn portraits and duplications via halftone processes that had frequently been used to reproduce images of Lincoln across the turn of the century, Meserve’s 1911 The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln provided readers with true photographs: “Here the photographs themselves are given. Prints from the original negatives have been used where possible; otherwise negatives of uniform carte-de-visite size have been made from the photographs. If the portraits are poor and indistinct it is because the originals, many of them rare, are not clear. But they are not less interesting and valuable, and there has been no touching-up to make perfect pictures.” (Meserve, p. 38).
The book features 100 mounted and numbered photographs, showing all the famous images of Lincoln, and many rarely seen. Following the numbered photographs is the addition of 31 unnumbered photographs, comprising: “Lincoln at Gettysburg” (3 photographs), “Mrs. Lincoln and the Sons” (4 photographs) and “Photographs of the Vice-Presidents, the Speakers of the House of Representatives, the Secretaries to the President, the Members of the Cabinets, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, General Grant, General Sherman, and Admiral Farragut” (24 photographs). The volume predates the identification of Lincoln in the scarce photographic record of 1863 Gettysburg Address—explaining why the three photographs from the day are not collated among the numbered photographs of Lincoln. Together, the two additions bring the total number of photographs to 131, and represent the pantheon of American political life during the Civil War years.
Printed privately in a run of 100 copies (plus two for copyright), The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln was presented to each of its 100 subscribers. The original recipients of the 100 circulated copies, listed at the beginning of the book, included J.P. Morgan, Robert T. Lincoln (eldest son of Lincoln’s), the New-York Historical Society as well as many distinguished libraries across the nation.
Lincoln photographs have become a historical and cultural institution in their own right, and Lincoln himself recognized and benefited from their power within his lifetime. “He often said,” writes William C. Davis, “that a widely reproduced photograph made of him in February 1860 at the time of his Cooper Union speech was responsible for making him president. Whether he was serious or only joking, either way the comment reveals his awareness of the potential power of the camera.” (Davis, p. 22). The Cooper Union photographs are nos. 19–20 in the present volume. Meserve stood at the forefront of capturing this power and ensuring its survival—preserving Lincoln’s visual identity for the public, and documenting the most celebrated of world leaders and one of the first US Presidents to be captured on camera.
Provenance: The present copy is no. 81 of 100 and was originally presented to John Wanamaker, who is listed as the recipient of this copy in the subscribers' list. Also with a Postmaster General business card signed by Wanamaker on the front free endpaper and an interesting typed letter signed by Wanamaker from 1914 praising architects. ("... there is more to a man if he is rightly equipped than any building that can be put on the face of the earth... [T]he man with the pencil that makes the lines that afterward go into a blue-print, and computes the strength and the sizes of the foundations, is a much greater man than the man that does the mason work.")
John Wanamaker (1838-1922) was a legendary businessman (founder of Wanamaker's department stores), philanthropist, art collector, and the US Postmaster General (1889-1893).
With later ownership signature ("N.S. Estilow"?). More recent bookplate on front pastedown of musician Graham and Susan Nash. Graham Nash, in addition to being one of the founders of the band Crosby, Stills, and Nash, was an avid photography collector.
MESERVE, FREDERICK HILL. The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Privately Printed, 1911. Quarto, 113 pp. + 3 pls., including 100 numbered and 31 unnumbered mounted gelatin silver prints. Number 81 of 100 copies (plus 2 for copyright) and signed on the limitation page (at rear) “F.H. Meserve”. Original drab gray boards with gilt-stamped spine, top edge gilt, uncut on fore-edge and bottom; custom box. Scuffing to binding with split down center of spine and upper joint exposed. Front hinge reinforced. Text and photos fine.
References:
Davis, William C., “Creating a Military Image: Lincoln as Commander in Chief”, OAH Magazine of History 23.1 (2009), 19–23
Kunhardt, Peter W., Jr. (ed.), The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln (Steidl: Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation, 2015)
Lambert, William H., Library of the late Major William H. Lambert of Philadelphia, 6 vols. (New York: Metropolitan Art Association)
Nevins, Allan quoted in “Frederick Hill Meserve Dies; Lincolniana Collector Was 96”, The New York Times, 26 June 1962, p. 33. (Inventory #: 2922)
In contrast to re-drawn portraits and duplications via halftone processes that had frequently been used to reproduce images of Lincoln across the turn of the century, Meserve’s 1911 The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln provided readers with true photographs: “Here the photographs themselves are given. Prints from the original negatives have been used where possible; otherwise negatives of uniform carte-de-visite size have been made from the photographs. If the portraits are poor and indistinct it is because the originals, many of them rare, are not clear. But they are not less interesting and valuable, and there has been no touching-up to make perfect pictures.” (Meserve, p. 38).
The book features 100 mounted and numbered photographs, showing all the famous images of Lincoln, and many rarely seen. Following the numbered photographs is the addition of 31 unnumbered photographs, comprising: “Lincoln at Gettysburg” (3 photographs), “Mrs. Lincoln and the Sons” (4 photographs) and “Photographs of the Vice-Presidents, the Speakers of the House of Representatives, the Secretaries to the President, the Members of the Cabinets, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, General Grant, General Sherman, and Admiral Farragut” (24 photographs). The volume predates the identification of Lincoln in the scarce photographic record of 1863 Gettysburg Address—explaining why the three photographs from the day are not collated among the numbered photographs of Lincoln. Together, the two additions bring the total number of photographs to 131, and represent the pantheon of American political life during the Civil War years.
Printed privately in a run of 100 copies (plus two for copyright), The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln was presented to each of its 100 subscribers. The original recipients of the 100 circulated copies, listed at the beginning of the book, included J.P. Morgan, Robert T. Lincoln (eldest son of Lincoln’s), the New-York Historical Society as well as many distinguished libraries across the nation.
Lincoln photographs have become a historical and cultural institution in their own right, and Lincoln himself recognized and benefited from their power within his lifetime. “He often said,” writes William C. Davis, “that a widely reproduced photograph made of him in February 1860 at the time of his Cooper Union speech was responsible for making him president. Whether he was serious or only joking, either way the comment reveals his awareness of the potential power of the camera.” (Davis, p. 22). The Cooper Union photographs are nos. 19–20 in the present volume. Meserve stood at the forefront of capturing this power and ensuring its survival—preserving Lincoln’s visual identity for the public, and documenting the most celebrated of world leaders and one of the first US Presidents to be captured on camera.
Provenance: The present copy is no. 81 of 100 and was originally presented to John Wanamaker, who is listed as the recipient of this copy in the subscribers' list. Also with a Postmaster General business card signed by Wanamaker on the front free endpaper and an interesting typed letter signed by Wanamaker from 1914 praising architects. ("... there is more to a man if he is rightly equipped than any building that can be put on the face of the earth... [T]he man with the pencil that makes the lines that afterward go into a blue-print, and computes the strength and the sizes of the foundations, is a much greater man than the man that does the mason work.")
John Wanamaker (1838-1922) was a legendary businessman (founder of Wanamaker's department stores), philanthropist, art collector, and the US Postmaster General (1889-1893).
With later ownership signature ("N.S. Estilow"?). More recent bookplate on front pastedown of musician Graham and Susan Nash. Graham Nash, in addition to being one of the founders of the band Crosby, Stills, and Nash, was an avid photography collector.
MESERVE, FREDERICK HILL. The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Privately Printed, 1911. Quarto, 113 pp. + 3 pls., including 100 numbered and 31 unnumbered mounted gelatin silver prints. Number 81 of 100 copies (plus 2 for copyright) and signed on the limitation page (at rear) “F.H. Meserve”. Original drab gray boards with gilt-stamped spine, top edge gilt, uncut on fore-edge and bottom; custom box. Scuffing to binding with split down center of spine and upper joint exposed. Front hinge reinforced. Text and photos fine.
References:
Davis, William C., “Creating a Military Image: Lincoln as Commander in Chief”, OAH Magazine of History 23.1 (2009), 19–23
Kunhardt, Peter W., Jr. (ed.), The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln (Steidl: Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation, 2015)
Lambert, William H., Library of the late Major William H. Lambert of Philadelphia, 6 vols. (New York: Metropolitan Art Association)
Nevins, Allan quoted in “Frederick Hill Meserve Dies; Lincolniana Collector Was 96”, The New York Times, 26 June 1962, p. 33. (Inventory #: 2922)
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