Son of President Abraham Lincoln (1843–1926) who served as Secretary of War in the Garfield and Arthur administrations. TLS signed “Robert T. Lincoln,” two pages, 7.75 x 9.75, Pullman Building, Chicago letterhead, September 14, 1909. Letter to F. H. Meserve in New York. In full: “I am greatly obliged to your letter of September 11th, enclosing me the portrait of my father and mother - more as a curiosity than for its actual value. I never saw a photograph of either of them which looked like these portraits. If I understand you correctly, it is a photograph of an engraving, the engraving being made from a composite picture of two photographs of negatives which you have. This would account for the failure of good resemblance in each case. As you suggest, the composite picture makes my mother relatively too tall, as you can easily see when you remember that my father was himself six feet four inches in height. I do not know my mother's actual height, but I should guess it at about five feet six inches-perhaps not so much. I never saw, or heard of, a photograph of my father and mother taken together. Nor any photograph of my father with any member of his family except my young brother Thomas, who was called Tad, and I think it is safe to say that none other was ever taken. I never had a photograph of myself with either my father or mother, or either of my brothers. There is a very old family group made up from an engraving in which the photograph of my father with my brother Tad is used, and the figure of myself is made from a genuine photograph, but a military uniform was added. I never had a photograph taken in military uniform. It will be a great pleasure to receive from you the new portraits which you mention, to add to my collection.” In very good condition, with a central horizontal and vertical fold, paperclip impression to top left corner, a few wrinkles, and some mild toning and soiling. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.
Meserve’s correspondence stemmed from research he was conducting for what would become his 1911 book, Photographs of Abraham Lincoln. Sending examples to the president’s son for comment, he was rewarded with a wealth of information about the 16th president, including the fact that Robert Todd had never seen an image of his parents taken together, nor a family portrait of any type. “I never had a photograph of myself with either my father or mother, or either of my brothers,” he wrote here. For Meserve, determining what type of photographs existed of the 16th president became an obsession. Lincoln was the first president to be photographed while in office, and Meserve's lifelong goal was to find and catalog all the existing images of Lincoln—now known to number about 120. Simply great insight by the only surviving Lincoln concerning his famous father. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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