Mary Lincoln, Katherine Helm, The True Story of Mary…Ltd. Deluxe Ed.

Description

Katherine Helm’s The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln. This is the Limited, Deluxe Edition and features a front cover inset panel of original damask drapery from the Todd home in Lexington, Kentucky. Includes a printed letter, signed by Helm in type, attesting to the damask panel.

Katherine Helm was a daughter of Confederate General Ben Hardin Helm and Emilie Todd Helm, a half-sister to Mary. She was also Lincoln’s favorite in-law. An accomplished painter, Helm painted six portraits of Mary Lincoln. One of those six is part of the White House Art Collection. She had a studio in New York around the turn of the century. In  1912 she moved back to Lexington and continued to paint until her death in 1937.  Helm’s husband died at Chickamauga while serving the Confederacy. Though laudatory, these reminiscences are a most valuable contribution to the domestic history of the Lincolns.

Excellent w/ only very lt. rubbing at spine tips; a true collector’s copy. Cloth has minor soiling.

Helm, Katherine. THE TRUE STORY OF MARY, WIFE OF LINCOLN. Containing the Recollections of Mary Lincoln’s Sister Emilie (Mrs. Ben Hardin Helm)…. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1928. 309p., ft., illus.; spine label. [M3020n]Limited deluxe edition; #100 of 175 copies, with a front cover inset panel of original damask drapery from the Todd home in Lexington, Kentucky.