Explore Abraham Lincoln’s Life and Legacy Through Rare Copies of Historic Books and Documents

America’s presidential election is still more than a month away. In the meantime, politicos can travel back in time and contemplate the life and legacy of the country’s 16th president: Abraham Lincoln.

A new exhibition—“Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print”—opened this week at the Grolier Club in New York City. Using books, documents and ephemera, the show follows Lincoln’s rise from a one-room log cabin in Kentucky to the White House. A catalog published by Marquand Books also accompanies the exhibition, with chapters on Lincoln’s political journey, presidential legacy, assassination and many other topics.

The more than 200 artifacts on display come from the Americana collection of David M. Rubenstein, an American businessman and philanthropist who recently wrote a new book exploring presidential history.

“Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print” is on view through December 28—running more than a month before and after the presidential election on November 5. That timing was intentional: Rubenstein wants to offer “non-partisan presentations that foster civic engagement and historical understanding,” per Fine Books & Collections.

“Lincoln’s story is the most fascinating and exemplary story in American presidential history,” Rubenstein tells the publication. “He is not only our greatest president for having kept the Union together during a period of terrible division and discord. He is also a model American for his tremendous humility, for having continually sought consensus, for always bettering himself through reading, and for making sure that the rights and protections enshrined in our founding documents are shared by all.”

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But before Lincoln could become president, he had to persuade voters to elect him. In 1860, four main candidates were on the ballot: Lincoln, John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas and John Bell. The exhibition features a variety of printed materials from Lincoln’s presidential run that year, including biographies, pamphlets, election ballots, political songsters and more.

Also on view are printings of Lincoln’s speeches, including his 1860 Cooper Union address and his 1858 debates with Douglas for a seat in the United States Senate. Originally printed in newspapers, the debates were later compiled into a book that Lincoln published in 1860; a signed version of the book is included in the exhibition. Though Lincoln ultimately lost the 1858 Senate race, the fierce exchanges with Douglas helped propel Lincoln’s run for higher office.

“Lincoln comes out of the debates a more prominent figure in Illinois and across the country,” as Matthew Pinsker, a historian at Dickinson College, told Smithsonian magazine’s Fergus M. Bordewich in 2008. “The key question facing him before the debates was: Can he lead a party? Now he has the answer: He can. He now begins to see himself as a possible president.”

A copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and a signed souvenir version of the Thirteenth Amendment are also featured in the exhibition.

Visitors can see artifacts representing some of Lincoln’s biggest accomplishments, including the only version of the Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln signed. The document was one of 48 copies created for the 1864 Great Central Fair in Philadelphia. At that time, they were sold for $10 each to raise funds for the United States Sanitary Commission, a civilian-run arm of the U.S. War Department that supported sick and wounded soldiers.

A pocket-sized version of the Emancipation Proclamation is also included in the exhibition. It was printed by abolitionist John Murray Forbes, then distributed among Black communities by Union soldiers.

Lincoln was a voracious reader, picking up whichever books he could get his hands on—from William Shakespeare to William Blackstone. He also became a lawyer by reading and studying on his own. The show features many selections from his reading list.

“In many ways, books made Abraham Lincoln,” says Mazy Boroujerdi, who curated the exhibition and serves as special advisor to Rubenstein's collection, to Fine Books & Collections. “There is no better way to tell the story of Lincoln than through books, and there is no better subject for a book exhibition than Lincoln.”

“Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print” is on view at the Grolier Club in New York City through December 28.

Sarah Kuta | READ MORE

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.