Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

4 pp. bifolium, 24 3/8 x 18 1/4 in. (619 x 463 mm); staining to first leaf; scattered spotting throughout.

A front page advertisement for "Stuart & Lincoln" is featured here, detailing the partnership: "Attorneys and Counsellors at Law, will practice, conjointly, in the Courts of this Judicial Circuit.—Office No. 4 Hoffman's Row, up stairs. Springfield, april 12, 1837."

John Todd Stuart (1807-1885) and Abraham Lincoln formed a law partnership in Springfield in April of 1837, practicing together until 1841. Stuart first met Lincoln during the Black Hawk War (see Lot 4) when the two served in the same Illinois regiment, and shortly afterwards, both were elected to the Illinois State House of Representatives. Stuart admired Lincoln's skill as a politician and was the first to suggest he should read law, setting him on a path that culminated in his being elected to the White House. The two men remained close friends until Lincoln's death, and Stuart recalled satirically later in life that "...I am going to live in posterity only as the man who advised Mr. Lincoln to study law and lent him his law books..." (Brown, Springfield Society Before the Civil War, p. 490)

The Sangamo Journal was first published by brothers Josiah and Simeon Francis in November 1831. During Simeon's long tenure as editor, the paper would serve as a major mouthpiece for the Illinois Whig Party as well as one of its key members, Abraham Lincoln. Francis held Lincoln in great esteem, frequently featuring his editorials and promoting his political career within the pages of the Journal. In fact, Lincoln became a frequent visitor to the office of the paper and a friend to its editor early on. "[Lincoln] had an office with John T. Stuart but the dingy room could not compete with the bustling editorial department of the Sangamo Journal. He made the newspaper office his loafing place, telling stories and talking politics. The editor and his wife treated Lincoln as one of the family, and a lifelong friendship was formed." (Harper, Lincoln and the Press, pp. 2-3).

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California