![LINCOLN, Abraham. GARDNER, Alexander, photographer. Carte-de-visite photograph signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, [taken 9 August 1863]. Albumen photograph, 3 15/16 x 2 3/8 in., neatly mounted on stiff card within double ruled borders, boldly signed in blank area beneath the image, small chip at lower right corner. Image slightly pale, the signature dark and bold. Hamilton and Ostendorf, Lincoln in Photographs, 0-72D.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2011/NYR/2011_NYR_02488_0160_000(lincoln_abraham_gardner_alexander_photographer_carte-de-visite_photogr090141).jpg?w=1)
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
LINCOLN, Abraham. GARDNER, Alexander, photographer. Carte-de-visite photograph signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, [taken 9 August 1863]. Albumen photograph, 3 15/16 x 2 3/8 in., neatly mounted on stiff card within double ruled borders, boldly signed in blank area beneath the image, small chip at lower right corner. Image slightly pale, the signature dark and bold. Hamilton and Ostendorf, Lincoln in Photographs, 0-72D.
Details
LINCOLN, Abraham. GARDNER, Alexander, photographer. Carte-de-visite photograph signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, [taken 9 August 1863]. Albumen photograph, 3 15/16 x 2 3/8 in., neatly mounted on stiff card within double ruled borders, boldly signed in blank area beneath the image, small chip at lower right corner. Image slightly pale, the signature dark and bold. Hamilton and Ostendorf, Lincoln in Photographs, 0-72D.
LINCOLN, "IN VERY GOOD SPIRITS," READS THE SUNDAY PAPERS. One of first photos taken of Lincoln by Alexander Gardner in his recently opened studio at the corner of 7th and D Streets. The President is seated at a marble-topped table, reading glasses in one hand, holding partially folded sheets of a Washington newspaper; it seems a certainty that Gardner has posed Lincoln--an avid reader of the news--in the act of reading the Sunday newspapers. The sitting which produced this and six other images was on Sunday, August 9, 1863 and Lincoln's private secretary, John Hay, noted in his diary: "I went down with the President to have his picture taken at Gardner's. He was in very good spirits" (quoted by Mark Katz, Witness to an Era: The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner, p.112).
Provenance: This carte belonged to Clark E. Carr, a prominent Illinois resident. As a young man he attended several of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and was selected to represent the state of Illinois at the dedication of the National Cemetary at Gettysburg, which he recounted in his book Lincoln at Gettysburg. He was postmaster of Galesburg, Illinois for 24 years and also served as U.S. Minister to Denmark from 1889-1893.
We are aware of only two other signed examples of this image. One, cropped at top, was sold at Christie's, 16 December 2004, lot 418, $65,725. The second was sold at Christie's, 3 December 2007, lot 152, $85,000.
LINCOLN, "IN VERY GOOD SPIRITS," READS THE SUNDAY PAPERS. One of first photos taken of Lincoln by Alexander Gardner in his recently opened studio at the corner of 7th and D Streets. The President is seated at a marble-topped table, reading glasses in one hand, holding partially folded sheets of a Washington newspaper; it seems a certainty that Gardner has posed Lincoln--an avid reader of the news--in the act of reading the Sunday newspapers. The sitting which produced this and six other images was on Sunday, August 9, 1863 and Lincoln's private secretary, John Hay, noted in his diary: "I went down with the President to have his picture taken at Gardner's. He was in very good spirits" (quoted by Mark Katz, Witness to an Era: The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner, p.112).
Provenance: This carte belonged to Clark E. Carr, a prominent Illinois resident. As a young man he attended several of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and was selected to represent the state of Illinois at the dedication of the National Cemetary at Gettysburg, which he recounted in his book Lincoln at Gettysburg. He was postmaster of Galesburg, Illinois for 24 years and also served as U.S. Minister to Denmark from 1889-1893.
We are aware of only two other signed examples of this image. One, cropped at top, was sold at Christie's, 16 December 2004, lot 418, $65,725. The second was sold at Christie's, 3 December 2007, lot 152, $85,000.