Autograph Leaves of our Country's Authors

Baltimore: Cushings & Baily, 1864. First. hardcover. Very good. First edition, lithographed throughout, engraved vignette title page, original brown cloth with spine redone with original cloth, contains lithographic samples of hand-written manuscripts from virtually all of the major American literary figures of the day, including Abraham Lincoln (with his Gettysburg Address) and Herman Melville and Edgar Allen Poe. The book was published to raise funds for the troops. The authors all wrote and donated the manuscripts for this publication. This version of the Gettysburg differs from prior versions and became the definitive text, used on the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. The original now resides in the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House.