[LINCOLN, Abraham]. LINCOLN, Robert Todd. Autograph letter signed ("Robert Lincoln") to an unidentified lady, Chicago, 12 May 1888. 1 page, 8vo, "Isham, Lincoln & Beale" stationery, fine. [With:] LINCOLN, Abraham. Cut Signature ("A Lincoln"), 1 page, small oblong (66 x 19 mm.), clipped from a check. LINCOLN'S SON PROVIDES A SIGNATURE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN FOR TSAR ALEXANDER III. A curious letter, in which Robert Lincoln, who was frequently asked to supply his late father's autograph, expresses his reluctance to "comply with such requests as your[s]...but this case is exceptional & I enclose a signature from a check which is all I could do for the Czar of Russia." The neatly clipped signature is still affixed to the top of Robert's letter by a small paperclip; evidently it was never passed on to Czar Alaxander (1845-1894, crowned 1883). Robert Todd Lincoln served as Secretary of War (1881-1885) in the Garfield and Arthur administrations, and was appointed minister to Great Britain (1889-1893) by President Benjamin Harrison. At his instruction his father's personal papers, which he gave to the nation, were not made public until 1947. (2)