May 1, 2024 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
249
A government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people
Estate / Collection: Property from the Rotondaro Collection
[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM]
PARKER, THEODORE. Two sermons preached before the twenty-eighth Congregational Society in Boston on the 14th and 21st of November 1852, on leaving their old and entering a new place of worship. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, & Company, 1853. William Herndon's copy, signed by him ("W.H. Herndon") twice on front wrapper, once on the title-page, and once on the rear blank wrapper. Publisher's wrappers. 9 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches (24 x 14.75 cm); 56 pp. Several small chips to wrappers, stamped number at head of wrapper, old scotch tape repairs to spine.
William Henry Herndon was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Springfield, Illinois from 1845 until Lincoln's inauguration as President in 1861. A more passionate opponent of slavery than Lincoln, Herndon was particularly moved by the sermons and speeches of that most eloquent of "radical" Abolitionists, the Boston clergyman Theodore Parker, printings of which Herndon assiduously collected, sometimes passing on his copies to Lincoln. In the three-volume Lincoln biography which Herndon co-authored, 24 years after the President's death, Herndon recalled that after a visit to Boston in 1858, "I brought with me additional sermons and lectures by Theodore Parker, who was warm in his commendation of Lincoln. One of these was a lecture on "The Effect of Slavery on the American People" that was delivered in the Music Hall in Boston, and which I gave to Lincoln, who read and returned it. He liked especially the following expression, which he marked with a pencil, and which he in substance afterward used in his Gettysburg address: 'Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, for all the people, by all the people."
Herndon's memory was faulty. Parker delivered the anti-slavery lecture in July 1858, five months after Herndon returned from Boston. But Parker had used the phrase before, first in an 1850 speech to a New England Anti-Slavery convention - found in Parker's collected works, posthumously published in 1863. Parker used it again in an 1852 sermon, "On the Position and Duty of a Minister'. On page 52 of the first printing of that sermon, presented here, are the words "I have great faith in America; in the American idea; in the ideal of our government - a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people." Here is Herndon's own copy of that first 1853 printing of these famous words - possibly the only version of these words that were in print when Herndon briefly met Parker in Boston five years later.
In his recent study of the Gettysburg Address, Professor A.E. Elmore concluded that "one or more" of Parker's three speeches "was almost certainly Lincoln's actual source for the famous phrase". While it is possible that Herndon also owned a much later reprint of the 1852 sermon that he gave Lincoln, there is no record of the great Lincoln collector Oliver Barrett, who later acquired much of Herndon's library, coming across a copy with the Lincoln pencil underlining Herndon recalled. This appears to be the only known printing of the Parker sermon with clear Herndon provenance, and conceivably the copy from which Lincoln adopted the phrase in the Gettysburg Address: “that these dead shall not have died in vain– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”
Sold for $1,088
Estimated at $1,000 - $1,500
Includes Buyer's Premium
Estate / Collection: Property from the Rotondaro Collection
[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM]
PARKER, THEODORE. Two sermons preached before the twenty-eighth Congregational Society in Boston on the 14th and 21st of November 1852, on leaving their old and entering a new place of worship. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, & Company, 1853. William Herndon's copy, signed by him ("W.H. Herndon") twice on front wrapper, once on the title-page, and once on the rear blank wrapper. Publisher's wrappers. 9 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches (24 x 14.75 cm); 56 pp. Several small chips to wrappers, stamped number at head of wrapper, old scotch tape repairs to spine.
William Henry Herndon was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Springfield, Illinois from 1845 until Lincoln's inauguration as President in 1861. A more passionate opponent of slavery than Lincoln, Herndon was particularly moved by the sermons and speeches of that most eloquent of "radical" Abolitionists, the Boston clergyman Theodore Parker, printings of which Herndon assiduously collected, sometimes passing on his copies to Lincoln. In the three-volume Lincoln biography which Herndon co-authored, 24 years after the President's death, Herndon recalled that after a visit to Boston in 1858, "I brought with me additional sermons and lectures by Theodore Parker, who was warm in his commendation of Lincoln. One of these was a lecture on "The Effect of Slavery on the American People" that was delivered in the Music Hall in Boston, and which I gave to Lincoln, who read and returned it. He liked especially the following expression, which he marked with a pencil, and which he in substance afterward used in his Gettysburg address: 'Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, for all the people, by all the people."
Herndon's memory was faulty. Parker delivered the anti-slavery lecture in July 1858, five months after Herndon returned from Boston. But Parker had used the phrase before, first in an 1850 speech to a New England Anti-Slavery convention - found in Parker's collected works, posthumously published in 1863. Parker used it again in an 1852 sermon, "On the Position and Duty of a Minister'. On page 52 of the first printing of that sermon, presented here, are the words "I have great faith in America; in the American idea; in the ideal of our government - a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people." Here is Herndon's own copy of that first 1853 printing of these famous words - possibly the only version of these words that were in print when Herndon briefly met Parker in Boston five years later.
In his recent study of the Gettysburg Address, Professor A.E. Elmore concluded that "one or more" of Parker's three speeches "was almost certainly Lincoln's actual source for the famous phrase". While it is possible that Herndon also owned a much later reprint of the 1852 sermon that he gave Lincoln, there is no record of the great Lincoln collector Oliver Barrett, who later acquired much of Herndon's library, coming across a copy with the Lincoln pencil underlining Herndon recalled. This appears to be the only known printing of the Parker sermon with clear Herndon provenance, and conceivably the copy from which Lincoln adopted the phrase in the Gettysburg Address: “that these dead shall not have died in vain– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”
Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps, May 1, 2024
-
Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on May 1, 2024 Totals $1.2 Million
-
A Medieval Manuscript Rules of St. Augustine Achieves $102k
-
Consignments Are Currently Being Accepted for Future Auctions
NEW YORK, NY -- Competitive bidding at Doyle’s May 1, 2024 auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps drove strong prices and a sale total that topped $1.2 million, surpassing expectations.
Featured in the sale was a fascinating selection of early manuscripts that achieved exceptional results. Highlighting the group was a 14th century manuscript of the Rules of St. Augustine from an English priory that soared over its $8,000-12,000 estimate to realize a stunning $102,100. The Rule of St. Augustine is among the earliest of all monastic rules, created about 400, and it was an influence on all that succeeded it. Other notable results included a 14th century Etymologiae of St. Isidore estimated at $5,000-8,000 that achieved $51,200 and a 15th century Prayer Book of Jehan Bernachier estimated at $10,000-15,000 that sold for $28,800.
A first edition of John James Audubon's octavo Birds of America sold for $41,600, far over its $25,000-35,000 estimate. Published in 1840-1844 in seven volumes, the first octavo edition was the final Birds of America publication overseen by Audubon in his lifetime.
The Fred Rotondaro Collection offered rare books and manuscripts on a range of subjects touching the African American experience in the United States over three centuries. A first edition copy of Frederick Douglass’ 1876 speech at the unveiling of the Freedman's Monument in Washington realized $12,800, far exceeding its $3,000-5,000 estimate. A first edition of the first issue of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin from 1852 also achieved $12,800.
Highlighting the range of offerings from the Ken Harte Collection of Natural History was a first edition Richard Bowdler Sharpe’s beautifully illustrated monograph of Kingfishers, 1868-71, that sold for $14,080, doubling its $6,000-8,000 estimate. It was accompanied by an inscribed copy of the rare unfinished chapter on the anatomy of the kingfisher by James Murie.
We Invite You to Auction!
Consignments are currently being accepted for future auctions. We invite you to contact us for a complimentary auction evaluation. Our Specialists are always available to discuss the sale of a single item or an entire collection.
For information, please contact Peter Costanzo at 212-427-4141 ext 248, Edward Ripley-Duggan at ext 234, or Noah Goldrach at ext 226, or email Books@Doyle.com
