Another year, another suite of acquisitions for my Abraham Lincoln book collection. In 2016 I acquired only 43 new additions, far less than the 59 and 60 books obtained in 2015 and 2014, respectively, and less than half the 98 books in 2013. Some of this reduction in new items is correlated to my reduced acquisition fund, but mostly it is because books not already in my collection are getting harder and harder to find.
I purchased six books published in 2016, including A Self-Made Man by Sidney Blumenthal, which is the first of a series on the political life of Abraham Lincoln. Blumenthal is not a Lincoln historian, per se, but you’ll recognize his name as a Clinton confidant with great political insights. He’s already agreed to be a speaker this coming year at the Lincoln Group of DC.
The other new books are The Annotated Lincoln by Harold Holzer and Tom Horrocks, Lincoln’s Greatest Journey by Noah Andre Trudeau, The Lincoln Assassination Riddle by Frank Williams and Michael Burkhimer, and Herndon on Lincoln: Letters by Doug Wilson and Rodney Davis. All but the latter and the Trudeau book have been inscribed to me by the authors, and I plan to get Trudeau’s inscription when I meet him in February.
Aside from new books there were several classic authors and publications making their way onto my shelves this year, including books by Gabor Borritt, Wayne Temple, Ruth Painter Randall, Allen Nevins, and William Hesseltine. The oldest book, The True Abraham Lincoln by Curtis Leroy Wilson, was published in 1902. I also picked up recent books from modern day historians Edna Greene Medford (Lincoln and Emancipation) and Terry Alford (Fortune’s Fool).
One of the more unique books obtained was Matthew Algeo’s Abe & Fido, which is what it sounds like, a book about Lincoln and his dog. What? You didn’t know he had a dog? Then you need to read this book. Another unique book is one put out by Parke-Bernet Galleries called The Oliver R. Barrett Lincoln Collection: Public Auction Sale, February 19 and 20. This volume lists all of items sold at auction in 1952 belonging to legendary Lincoln collector, Oliver Barrett. Next to each item description is written in pencil the price paid by the winning bidder.
Needless to say, with over 15,000 books and pamphlets reportedly published about our 16th president there are quite a few more books I can add to my collection. More are being published every year, and I’m happy to say that my own book will be joining the parade next year. Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America is due out in July 2017.
See the 2016 list below my signature blurb below.
David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book is on Abraham Lincoln, due out in 2017.
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Here is the 2016 list:
| Alford, Terry | Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth | 2015 |
| Algeo, Matthew | Abe & Fido: Lincoln’s Love of Animals and the Touching Story of his Favorite Canine Companion | 2015 |
| Bedini, Silvio A. | Jefferson and Science | 2002 |
| Bedini, Silvio A. | Thomas Jefferson: Statesman of Science | 1990 |
| Blumenthal, Sidney | A Self-Made Man 1809-1849: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln | 2016 |
| Bogar, Thomas A. | Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford’s Theatre | 2013 |
| Boritt, Gabor | Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream | 1994 |
| Burleigh, Nina | The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America’s Greatest Museum, The Smithsonian | 2003 |
| Chaffin, Tom | The H.L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy | 2008 |
| Curtis, William Leroy | The True Abraham Lincoln | 1902 |
| deKay, James Tertius | Monitor: The Story of the Legendary Civil War Ironclad and the Man Whose Invention Changed the Course of History | 1997 |
| Emerson, Jason | The Madness of Mary Lincoln | 2007 |
| Gossett, Thomas F. | Race: The History of an Idea in America | 1993 |
| Grahame-Smith, Seth | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | 2010 |
| Gramm, Kent | November: Lincoln’s Elegy at Gettysburg | 2001 |
| Hesseltine, William B. | Lincoln and the War Governors | 1948 |
| Hodes, Martha | Mourning Lincoln | 2015 |
| Holzer, Harold and Horrocks, Thomas A. | The Annotated Lincoln | 2016 |
| Howe, Daniel Walker | What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 | 2007 |
| Johnson, Clint | Pursuit: The Chase, Capture, Persecution & Surprising Release of Confederate President Jefferson Davis | 2008 |
| Lewin, J.G. and Huff, P.J. | Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War | 2007 |
| Mahin, Dean B. | One War at at Time | 1999 |
| Maxwell, William Quentin | Lincoln’s Fifth Wheel: The Political History of the U.S. Sanitary Commission | 1856 |
| Medford, Edna Greene | Lincoln and Emancipation | 2015 |
| Miller, William Lee | President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman | 2008 |
| Morel, Lucas (Ed.) | Lincoln & Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages | 2014 |
| Nevins, Allan | The Emergence of Lincoln | 1950-1951 |
| Parke-Bernet Galleries | The Oliver R. Barrett Lincoln Collection: Public Auction Sale, February 19 and 20 | 1952 |
| Prokopowicz, Gerald J. | Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln | 2008 |
| Randall, Ruth Painter | The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln | 1957 |
| Schwartz, Thomas F. | Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum: Official Commemorative Guide | 2011 |
| Silvestri, Vito N. and Lairo, Alfred P. | Abraham Lincoln’s Intellectual Development 1809-1837 | 2013 |
| Steers, Edward Jr. | The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia | 2010 |
| Strozier, Charles B. | Lincoln’s Quest for Union: Public and Private Meanings | 1987 |
| Temple, Wayne C. | Lincoln’s Connections With the Illinois Michigan Canal, His Return From Congress in ’48, and His Invention | 1986 |
| Temple, Wayne C. | By Square and Compasses: The Building of Lincoln’s Home and Its Saga | 1984 |
| Temple, Wayne C. | Lincoln’s Surgeons at His Assassination | 2015 |
| Toomey, Daniel Carroll | The War Came by Train: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad During the Civil War | 2013 |
| Trudeau, Noah Andre | Lincoln’s Greatest Journey: Sixteen Days that Changed a Presidency, March 24-April 8, 1865 | 2016 |
| Williams, Frank J. and Burkhimer, Michael (Eds) | The Lincoln Assassination Riddle: Revisiting the Crime of the Nineteenth Century | 2016 |
| Wills, Chuck | Lincoln: The Presidential Archives | 2007 |
| Wilson, Douglas L. and Davis, Rodney O. | Herndon on Lincoln: Letters | 2016 |
| Lincoln Herald Spring 1997 | 1997 |
I am sure you have read the multi-volume bio of Lincoln by Carl Sandburg. How would you rate it, esp in comparison to more modern works?
Sandburg romanticized Lincoln, which is perhaps not surprising for a poet who idolized the man. More modern scholarship tends to count all the warts (and some, less scholarly, have fabricated warts where none existed). Sandburg is worth reading from that perspective, and there are shorter abridgments that make it easier. For true scholarship you have to set aside the time to get through Michael Burlingame’s “A Life,” the two-volume tome that will give you all you need to know (and some you don’t) about Lincoln.
I’d been interested in that same question. I inherited an old set from my father, who had an interest in American, British and Russian histories. Alas, among the many unread books adorning my office.
Season’s (seasoned) greetings from Taipei.
The Sandburg books are worth reading (etc., as I say in my reply above; let me know if you can’t see it). Another good biography is David Herbert Donald’s “Lincoln,” which came out in 1995.
And seasoned greetings to you in Taipei. Show photos!
Thanks… and yes, I read your excellent response above.
Many photos, but have to wait until I have access to a real computer.
I look forward to it. Hope you’re having a great trip. Happy early New Year!