Herndon's Lincoln: the True Story of a Great Life: the History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln (3 volumes)

 William Henry Herndon; Jesse William Weik

Chicago : Belford-Clarke Co., 1889

Association copy. 3 volumes. Bound in publisher's green cloth. Front gutter of vol. 1 weak.  Scattered staining, mostly in vol. 1. Shelf wear to covers.  20 cm.  xx, 638 pages. Some of the plates have marginal wear, one detached (Lincoln's Parlor, Springfield Residence). Howes H-440.

Herndon served as Lincoln's law partner in Illinois.  "Based on Herndon's intimate, first-hand knowledge, this will always be the most authoritative single source for Lincoln's early period."<br> Depart of State library stamps on versos, dated 1889.  Both volumes signed: "Presented to Walter Wellman by Secretary Gresham."  Provenance: Walter Quintin Gresham (1832–1895) served as Secretary of State from 1893-1895 during the administration of President Grover Cleveland.  During the Civil War, Gresham served as a lieutenant-colonel in the Union Army, and eventually rose to the rank of brevet major general.  He served in the Cleveland Administration as a bi-partisan choice for Sec. of State.  Early bookseller plate of Chapman's of Washington DC.    Walter Wellman (1858-1934) was a noted American journalist and explorer.  During Gresham's tenure as Secretary of State, Wellman attempted unsuccessfully both to reach the North Pole and to cross the Atlantic Ocean by powered airship. Includes coloured Tintagel Castle (Cornwall) post card from Elsa B. Wellman (Walter's daughter) to Charlton Chamberlin (later of Waterford, Loudoun Co) dated 1912.  I purchased this book from a large collection of Cleveland-era books from an old estate of a former White House correspondent's library in Loudoun Co. Va.