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Lot Essay
Lincoln accepts a custom presentation pocket knife from the organizers of the Great Central Fair in Philadelphia, offered with the president's letter of thanks. An exceptional ensemble, documenting Lincoln's generosity in supporting and attending the Great Central Sanitary Fair, held in Philadelphia June 7 to June 28, while the Union armies fought bloody battles across northern Virginia in Grant's spring offensive. The fair raised just over one million dollars in aid of wounded soldiers; it was the last one Lincoln attended. The organizers were well aware that the president's presence had done much to aid their fund-raising efforts. "Of all the fairs Lincoln attended, Philadelphia's occupied the greatest amount of his time...".1 And this was one of several gifts presented to Lincoln by organizers and attendees at the fair (see the following lot), not to mention where the signed official "Boker" editions of the Emancipation Proclamation were sold as well.
On his visit, 16 June, Lincoln was accompanied by Mary Lincoln and their son Tad. After the Fair, committee member Alfred B. Justice forwarded this knife with an effusive letter signed by 135 citizens, testifying to their "profound respect for you as a man and a statesman," and presenting the pocket knife as not only in appreciation for Lincoln's efforts to preserve the Union "on the grand basis of The Declaration of Independence Universal Liberty and human Brotherhood" but also as "Specimen of the handicraft of American workmen…."2 Lincoln's response is equally gracious: "I have received at the hands of Wm. D. Kelley, a very beautiful and ingeniously constructed Pocket Knife, accompanied by your kind letter of presentation. The gift is gratefully accepted and will be highly valued, not only as an extremely creditable specimen of American workmanship, but as a manifestation of your regard and esteem which I most cordially appreciate...." Lincoln's assistant secretary, Edward Neill, who penned the body of the letter, apparently forgot that he had already written another letter of thanks the previous month (according to Basler).3
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1 Martin C. Carlino, "The Sanitary Fair's Gifts to President Lincoln," in Railsplitter, (Spring 2010), v.13, nos.3-4, 15.
2 Philadelphia Sanitary Commission to Abraham Lincoln, June 1864 (Present Lincoln with a pocket knife). Abraham Lincoln Papers, Series 1: General Correspondence. 1833-1916. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.3418600/?st=image
3 Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 7:529; 8:51
On his visit, 16 June, Lincoln was accompanied by Mary Lincoln and their son Tad. After the Fair, committee member Alfred B. Justice forwarded this knife with an effusive letter signed by 135 citizens, testifying to their "profound respect for you as a man and a statesman," and presenting the pocket knife as not only in appreciation for Lincoln's efforts to preserve the Union "on the grand basis of The Declaration of Independence Universal Liberty and human Brotherhood" but also as "Specimen of the handicraft of American workmen…."2 Lincoln's response is equally gracious: "I have received at the hands of Wm. D. Kelley, a very beautiful and ingeniously constructed Pocket Knife, accompanied by your kind letter of presentation. The gift is gratefully accepted and will be highly valued, not only as an extremely creditable specimen of American workmanship, but as a manifestation of your regard and esteem which I most cordially appreciate...." Lincoln's assistant secretary, Edward Neill, who penned the body of the letter, apparently forgot that he had already written another letter of thanks the previous month (according to Basler).3
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1 Martin C. Carlino, "The Sanitary Fair's Gifts to President Lincoln," in Railsplitter, (Spring 2010), v.13, nos.3-4, 15.
2 Philadelphia Sanitary Commission to Abraham Lincoln, June 1864 (Present Lincoln with a pocket knife). Abraham Lincoln Papers, Series 1: General Correspondence. 1833-1916. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.3418600/?st=image
3 Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 7:529; 8:51