Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, 1st Edition, Signed, Unique Association

Description

Offering Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln: The War Years in the original trade edition. Although there were many printings of The War Years, a set in the original slipcase with lid like this one is quite scarce.

Sandburg’s monumental work and the one full biography of the 20th Century most associated with Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg collected a huge amount of information for this biography which was praised for presenting a more folksy, “real” Lincoln, not a cold statue. A beautifully written, poetic work by the great poet and historian of the 20th Century.

After writing the two-volume Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years in the 1920’s Sandburg did not intend to continue his story into the Civil War. Yet such was the enormous popularity of his work, and such was his continued fascination with his subject that Sandburg felt compelled to take up his pen again. The publication of The War Years after more than a decade of waiting resulted in a phenomenon of public adoration for the “common man” Lincoln that Sandburg understood so well.

Excellent condition: slipcase light soil but volumes only minimally rubbed. Book plate of Earl Owen Fay pasted in volume 1. Inscribed and signed to “Herbert W. Fay / with appreciation / of practical help / and kindness” and signed and dated 1940. Herbert Fay was for generations the custodian of the Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois.

A wonderful gift with a Springfield connection!

Sandburg, Carl. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE WAR YEARS. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. Later printing, 4 volumes., frontispiece, illustrated, (Monaghan-3711).