Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: First four volumes (out of 9). 8vo. Blue cloth with gilt spine lettering. xxiii, 519pp; ix, 553pp; ix, 555pp; ix, 563pp. Illustrations. Very good. Very faintest of binding wear and spines a bit rubbed, else overall tight and internally fine. Attractive, tight "History Book Club" edition of the first four volumes (covering Lincoln's earliest years up through 1861) of this 9-volume set, with interesting autograph addition: Tipped opposite title page of the first volume is a Typed Note Signed from assistant editor Marion D. Pratt, 1p, 8¼" X 10½", Springfield, IL, 20 March 1953. Addressed to noted Lincoln and Civil War scholar Arnold Gates (1914-93). Writing on "The Abraham Lincoln Association" letterhead, Pratt chats cordially about this set's primary editor Roy Basler: "Dr. Basler is now with the Library of Congress; his home address is. When he left the employ of the Association in August, 1952, he had cut the order for both the September and December 1952 issues of the Abraham Lincoln Quarterly since it had been decided by the directors in the Spring that it would suspend publication after the December issue. Therefore, we have no 'extras' besides those which were necessary for our members." Boldly signed in full by her in black ink; she also crosses off Basler's printed name from the list of "Officers" at the bottom of the page. Marion's husband Harry (1901-56) served as Illinois state historian and authored and edited a prolific array of Lincoln-related titles, but she (1907-63) was a noted Lincoln scholar in her own right, serving as assistant editor on this set and other works. From the collection of Adlai E. Stevenson III (1930-2021), who served as U.S. Senator from Illinois (1969-81).
Seller: Main Street Fine Books & Mss, ABAA, Galena, IL, U.S.A.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Description: Complete 9-volume set. 8vo.Grey cloth with gilt spine lettering. Various paginations. Fine. Attractive, tight 1962 "History Book Club" edition, with interesting autograph addition: Tipped opposite first volume title page is a Typed Letter Signed from editor Basler, 1p, 8" X 10½", n.p., 27 December 1984. Addressed to Ralph G. Newman (1912-98, founder of Chicago's noted Abraham Lincoln Book Shop). Very good. Probably writing from Sarasota, Florida, where he retired in 1974, Basler tells his old friend "I am mailing separately. a copy of my revised manuscript. The computer printer tells me it is twenty five percent less than the first draft. In addition to cutting out, I have used your other suggestions to good advantage -- the Afterword particularly." Signed simply "Roy" in black ballpoint. Intriguing and the mystery of what this manuscript is remains unclear. Given Newman's involvement it almost certainly concerned Lincoln, but possibly it was never published. Basler (1906-89) was an American historian and for many years chief of the manuscript division at the Library of Congress; he edited the "Collected Works" in his capacity as editor-in-chief of the Abraham Lincoln Association (1947-52) and this set is by far his best known contribution to Lincolniana.
Seller: Main Street Fine Books & Mss, ABAA, Galena, IL, U.S.A.