Souvenir CDV of President Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield Farewell Address, ca. 1865. The lower margin of the card features an integrated 1865 federal copyright entry line by J.L. Campbell of Chicago. The verso displays a backmark for Crater’s Union Photographic Gallery, 55 Clark St., Chicago.

A highly important historical souvenir issued immediately following the assassination to satisfy a mourning nation's desire for Lincoln's parting words. The top third of the card features a detailed engraving depicting Columbia weeping over Lincoln’s star-studded coffin inside a church or vault, flanked by a grieving soldier and sailor. Directly beneath the coffin is a small banner featuring one of Lincoln's most prophetic quotes from his 1861 Independence Hall speech: But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated upon this spot than surrender it. The lower portion of the card contains the full, complete text of the brief, emotional address Lincoln delivered from the rear platform of his train at the Great Western Railroad depot on 11 February 1861, as he left his hometown for the White House. Chicago publisher J.L. Campbell secured the federal copyright for this specific graphic layout in May 1865, and regional galleries like Crater's mass-printed them as affordable keepsakes. While generic printed versions of this speech exist, finding an immaculate, un-trimmed 1865 example displaying the explicit Columbia engraving alongside a bold Chicago studio backmark represents a choice artifact. 

Very good. The carte retains excellent tone and clarity, allowing the viewer to plainly see all text. It appears that the right edge may have been slightly trimmed to fit into an album.