ALS, signed “Mary Lincoln,” one page, 5.25 x 8.25, black-bordered stationery, April 9, 1866. Letter to Elwood Johnson. In full: “Please accept my thanks for your kindness, in taking charge of & having bound, the compilation of addresses delivered in England, made by Mess Stephenson and Campbell which I received last week. I send enclosed a letter to those gentlemen which I beg you will forward to them.” Small separations along central horizontal and vertical folds, with vertical fold touching first letter of signature, a reinforced hinge, and mounting remnants to reverse of blank second integral page, otherwise fine condition. Accompanied by a color photocopy of the original mailing envelope.
Mrs. Lincoln writes to thank Ellwood Johnson, a prominent antislavery activist who came from a family long active in the abolition movement. Beginning in the 1850s, he became an Underground Railroad conductor and made his Philadelphia home a station. As a widow, Mrs. Lincoln returned home to Springfield, Illinois, where she likely wrote this letter. She received condolences from around the world after her husband’s assassination, and she tried to personally respond to each of them. Included among these was a heartfelt letter from Queen Victoria, who having recently lost Prince Albert, identified with Mrs. Lincoln's suffering. Indeed, the assassination was widely felt in England: "the whole people positively mourn," said John Bright, a leading British Liberal, "and it would seem as if again we were one nation with you, so universal is the grief." The "compilation of addresses delivered in England" described in this letter were likely tributes to Lincoln given in the wake of his death. A fine letter from the grieving widow approaching the first anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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