Lincoln, Abraham | "With malice toward none, with charity for all"

Lincoln, Abraham

Second Inaugural Address in The New York Herald, Whole No. 10,415 (Vol. XXX, No. 65). New York: (James Gordon Bennett), Sunday, March 5, 1865

Folio, 8 pages (583 x 409 mm). Folded but entirely unopened and preserved on a single very large sheet of paper, text in six columns; some soiling at margins and top octadic of front page, some edge wear and marginal chips, sheet creased and so printed in a few spots not affecting coverage of the Inauguration at all or legibility of text in any instance. Half blue morocco slipcase gilt, chemise.

A rare first-day, front-page printing of Lincoln's sublime Second Inaugural Address. This issue of The New York Herald is dated 5 March, the day after the inauguration, and includes, in addition to Lincoln's speech, extensive coverage of the inaugural ceremonies and the White House reception, as well as addresses by both the newly inaugurated Vice President, Andrew Johnson, and the displaced former Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin. Elsewhere the paper reports on the latest Civil War victories of generals Grant and Sherman.

"Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address took only six or seven minutes to deliver, yet contains many of the most memorable phrases in American political oratory. The speech contained neither gloating nor rejoicing. Rather, it offered Lincoln’s most profound reflections on the causes and meaning of the war. The 'scourge of war,' he explained, was best understood as divine punishment for the sin of slavery, a sin in which all Americans, North as well as South, were complicit. It describes a national moral debt that had been created by the 'bondsmen’s 250 years of unrequited toil,' and ends with a call for compassion and reconciliation" (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History).

PROVENANCE

Eric C. Caren (Christie's New York, 15 June 2017, lot 292)