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Historic autograph book, 5.25? x 7.5?, containing the ink signatures of seven American presidents from 1864 to 1909, including Abraham Lincoln (“A. Lincoln, Jan. 11, 1864”), U. S. Grant (“U. S. Grant, Lt. Gen. U.S.A.”), James A. Garfield (“J. A. Garfield, Ohio”), Grover Cleveland (“Grover Cleveland, Mch 2, 1889”), Benjamin Harrison (“Benj. Harrison, Feby 25, 1893”), William McKinley (“Wm. McKinley, Jr., Canton, Ohio, Dec 9/90”), and Theodore Roosevelt (“Theodore Roosevelt, Feb 24th 1909”), with the Lincoln, Harrison, Cleveland, and Roosevelt signatures all dating to their respective incumbencies.
Additionally, four of the signatures are coupled with autographs from a former first lady or direct relative, a group showcased by the elusive Mary Todd Lincoln (“Mary Lincoln, Jany 11th 1864”), whose autographic material, scarce in its own right, is cause for celebration when present with the signature of her iconic husband. Also featured are Frances Cleveland (“Frances F. Cleveland, Mch. 1889”), Edith Roosevelt (“Edith Kermit Roosevelt”), and Garfield’s son, James Rudolph Garfield.
The book contains numerous other signatures from notable political and military figures of the period, including William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Schuyler Colfax, Levi P. Morton, John A. Dahlgren, Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, and many more. In overall fine condition, with wear to the spine and covers (the spine is split, and the front cover, and first few pages, are detached but present); interior pages are all clean and unaffected by any flaws.
Despite its modest physical appearance, this book carries with it the historical weight of seven American presidential administrations, three of which (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley) ended in tragedy, with Roosevelt himself barely escaping the fate of an assassin’s bullet. That this book was physically handled by a septet of American presidents, the combination of which is likely never to be replicated as a single multi-signed item, is, perhaps, only overshadowed by the rare dual presence of Abraham and Mary Lincoln on the very same page. Deriving from the collection of a Washington D.C. insider, this autograph book exists as a remarkable single-format compendium of presidential signatures dating from the Civil War to the emergence of the Ford Model T, a significant, nearly 50-year window of American leadership and ingenuity.
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