Note: Please see Day 3 (October 11) of the sale that features rare material relating to the Gettysburg Address.

Full-length albumen CDV studio portrait of President Abraham Lincoln. New York: E. Anthony, [1862]. Publisher’s imprint to mount verso. Ostendorf 99.

View of Abraham Lincoln, thoughtfully posed with eyes downcast and hand drawing away from his face. One of the most candid of the Lincoln photographs, it is speculated that while Brady was loading his camera, Lincoln was overtaken by thought. Happy to document such an intimate pose, Brady captured the position.

Taken in 1862, Lincoln would have been halfway into his first term as president, grappling with the strain of the nation ripping itself apart in a bloody Civil War. The nation was divided, and Lincoln was at the helm of steering his constituents toward unity and a truer freedom through abolition, a goal which would not be realized for another three years. Lincoln knew the effectiveness of photography and its broad appeal to constituents. Perhaps this pose of Lincoln in deep thought was captured to reassure his audiences that he understood the gravity of the war that was destroying and simultaneously liberating their nation. 
 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards][Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Mary Todd Lincoln, 1860 Election, Election of 1860, 1864 Election, Election of 1864,  Lincoln Assassination, John Wilkes Booth]