Rise of the Rail Splitter
Alexander Pope. The poetical works of Alexander Pope, esq. Philadelphia: J. J. Woodward, 1839. |
Lincoln liked to read - and on occasion to write - poetry. William Shakespeare and Robert Burns were two of his favorite poets. This copy of the poems of Alexander Pope was given to Lincoln by Ninian Edwards (1809-1889), a onetime fellow Whig (who later switched to the Democratic Party) and brother-in-law to Mary Lincoln. Lincoln later gave it to his law partner William Herndon in 1861 before leaving Springfield for Washington, D.C., to assume the presidency. In 1867, Herndon presented this copy to the American publisher and author James T. Fields (1817-1881). *AC85.L6384.Zz839p Bequest of Mrs. James T. Fields, 1915. |
