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Abraham Lincoln [New York, NY], ca. Early 20th C. Beardless Abraham Lincoln 1858 IL Senate Debates-Era Photo, Meserve Printed & Collected Photograph A photographic print of future 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), printed sometime in the early 20th century, from the personal collection of world-renowned Lincoln collector Frederick H. Meserve (1865-1962). The original photograph of Lincoln was taken in July 1858 by Preston Brooks, a daguerreotypist then operating a studio in Springfield, Illinois. Inscribed and numbered in pencil by Meserve verso as "17" which corresponds with the numbering system he first developed for his privately published volume, "The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln" (1911). Expected gentle surface wear including the slightest adhesive residue recto and verso, else near fine. 2.125" x 3.25." Meserve described the sourcing of this Lincoln portrait, as with others like it in this particular collection, with the following statement: "the photographic portraits [have been] printed from the original negatives or from negatives made from the original negatives." Thus these photos can be considered as Type II or Type IV photographs. Meserve described this Lincoln portrait as "a photograph of the ambrotype believed to have been made by Preston Butler in Springfield in 1858. In McClure's Magazine of March, 1896, stating it was copied from a carbon enlargement of the ambrotype the date of June, 1860, was given, but the style of collar worn by Mr. Lincoln seems to place it in the earlier year." Modern Lincoln scholars have pinpointed July 18, 1858 as the date of the original ambrotype, now lost. Preston Butler (born 1817) was a Kentucky transplant who opened a daguerreotype studio in Decatur, Illinois in the late 1830s. He relocated to Springfield, Illinois in 1856, where he specialized in ambrotype photography. Between 1858-1860, Butler took eleven different photographs of Abraham Lincoln, including the last beardless portrait in August 1860; and also took likenesses of Mary Lincoln and their sons. In July 1858, Lincoln was preparing for a series of spirited debates against his opponent for the U.S. Senator for Illinois seat, Stephen A. Douglas. The seven Lincoln-Douglas debates took place between August 21 - October 15, 1858, in seven different Illinois towns and cities. Although Lincoln lost the Illinois Senate seat to Douglas, the highly publicized debates helped establish Lincoln's national prominence. Lincoln sat for over fifty official portraits from his lawyering days on the court circuit until his assassination. Lincoln had several distinctive physical characteristics: a gaunt face, a skinny neck, a large mole on his right cheek, and a slightly drooping left eyelid. Though not handsome, Lincoln possessed a plain-spun homeliness that endeared him to voters. The future president's awkward physical appearance went a long way in fostering his log cabin-born rail-splitter mystique. Frederick H. Meserve was a preeminent collector of Lincoln and Civil War era photography, ephemera, maps, and books. He began collecting Lincolniana in 1897, with the intention of illustrating his father's Civil War diary. In the early 1900s, Meserve acquired 10,000 original Brady negatives including seven Lincoln portraits. Meserve continued collecting Lincoln likenesses, as well as photos of Lincoln's contemporaries, over the next sixty years. He eventually amassed a collection of 200,000 pieces including some previously "lost" or unknown images of Lincoln. Meserve's collection was so esteemed for its completeness that he essentially became the custodian of "Lincoln's image." Meserve was approached by medal and currency engravers, as well as by the sculptors of Lincoln's Memorial Monument, for direct access to his presidential photographs. In 2015, the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection was acquired by the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (New Haven, Connecticut.) This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses. WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!