Books of Lincoln Photographs (Followup)

"When a rival called him 'two-faced' during a political debate, Lincoln replied: 'I leave it to my audience. If I had another face, do you think I'd wear this one?'"

—from Lincoln: A Photobiography

I spent yesterday happily immersed in learning more about Lincoln, which evidently you did not—I don't think any recent post here has gotten less response than yesterday's! Sorry about that. (Note to self: TOP readers are not interested in Lincoln.) I also got pretty far into the Benjamin Thomas biography.

Among the things I learned: Lincoln had a lazy left eye, which accounts for the fact that there is only one portrait of him (O'Sullivan's) looking straight at the camera; he was the first President with a beard, which he grew at the suggestion of a young girl who wrote him a letter saying he would look better with one; the killer of John Wilkes Booth, a soldier named Boston (originally Thomas) Corbett, was completely crazy—at the time he shot Booth he had already castrated himself with a pair of scissors to help himself resist the lure of prostitutes, and he later lived in a hole in the ground, which, believe it or not, you can still visit (in fact, there are a large number of Lincoln-associated places you can visit, including the site of a town Lincoln lived in that is no longer there). Corbett eventually escaped from an asylum and more or less vanished.

Abraham Lincoln's last confirmed descendant, a fellow named "Bud" Beckwith, died in 1985. However, George Clooney is a distant cousin.

I don't think I'm ever going to need to know that.

Books of Lincoln photos
Regarding books of Lincoln photographs, I came across this list, on the frankly named "Abraham Lincoln Research Site":

"Among the Abraham Lincoln books that include his photographs are: Lincoln's Photographs: A Complete Album by Lloyd Ostendorf, The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Hill Meserve and Carl Sandburg, Lincoln: A Picture Story of His Life by Stefan Lorant, and The Face of Lincoln compiled and edited by James Mellon. Additionally, there is The Lincoln Family Album by Mark E. Neely, Jr. and Harold Holzer. Also recommended are Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography by Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt, and Lincoln: A Pictorial History by Dr. Edward Steers, Jr."

The Kunhardts' book is the one I remember. It's been a long time since I've seen it; I'm pretty sure it was in the library of the Corcoran School. My impression was favorable, although I can't say that with assurance. But I guess we've already determined that you don't care anyway.

Mumlered
And check out this weird thing:

Mary Todd Lincoln was said to be "erratic" later in life, which may be her right after having lost three of her children and her husband. Her only surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln, who evidently inherited none of the traits of his father in any respect, tried to have her committed to an asylum. She managed to extract herself, but the two of them were estranged afterwards.

Wikipedia says of the above, "In 1872, she went to spiritualist photographer William H. Mumler, who produced a photograph of her that appears to faintly show Lincoln's ghost behind her (photo in Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana). The College of Psychic Studies, referencing notes belonging to William Stainton Moses, claims that the photo was taken in the early 1870s, that Lincoln had assumed the name of 'Mrs. Lindall,' and that Lincoln had to be encouraged by Mumler's wife to identify her husband on the photo. [This would have been only a year after she lost her son Tad at 18—maybe he was the one she was trying to summon from the spirit world —Ed.] P.T. Barnum, testifying against Mumler in his eventual fraud trial, presented a photo featuring himself with the 'ghost' of Abraham Lincoln, demonstrating for the court how easy it was to make one of Mumler's images. The image is recognized now as a hoax created via double exposure (by inserting a previously prepared positive glass plate featuring the image of the 'deceased' into the camera in front of an unused sensitive glass plate)."

Maybe we could say that a Photoshopped digital file has been "Mumlered."

And now let us move on.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman. A very brief, illustrated overview of the life of America's 16th President suitable for young people.

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

Link to B&H

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Featured Comments from:

Comments

[Bob Feugate]

Although I didn't comment, your Lincoln post spurred me to click through to purchase the Benjamin Thomas biography that you recommended. Being a thrifty guy (okay, cheapskate), I bought a used copy, so your Amazon affiliate share is going to pretty undetectable.

[John Krumm]

My only reading of Lincoln was the novel by Gore Vidal, which was very enjoyable. Recommended, along with his Burr as well.

[Sven W]

I’ve got a lazy left eye (due to it being short sighted). My right eye is a “20” or “6” for us metric types. I avoid being photographed as cross eyed is not a good look. But that eye combo works well for using a camera: my left can see the physical controls and LCD, my right eye the EVF and the actual scene in front of me. I normally wear spectacles and briefly take them off to take a shot.

[Dillan]

I did indeed enjoy your Lincoln post. Your literary recommendations are appreciated. I share your interest in history. I may take on Lincoln, but right now I am about 2/3 of the way through the Winston Churchill biography you mentioned, written by William Manchester. It is excellent.

[Grant]

I'm sorry Mike. I should have commented sooner, but I was busy following Abe's most famous maxim, "Be excellent to each other. And...Party on Dudes."

[Bear.]

Not interested. Just too much to add to too many words already written...just too hard.

[Dan Gorman]

Hi Mike,

I for one enjoyed both Lincoln posts, especially the photo of the "book" stack at Ford's Theatre. Reminds me of my own "to be read" stack of books on all subjects ;-)

Earlier this year, I read James Oakes' book "The Crooked Path to Abolition." I can recommend it if you're interested in abolition and/or constitutional history. Although the cover of the book is adorned with (I believe) Alexander Gardner's portrait of Lincoln, and there's a good discussion of Lincoln's own "crooked path" to proclaiming emancipation, IMO it's not really a Lincoln book, per se. (I would say the book mostly resonates with the portrayal of Lincoln by Daniel Day Lewis in Spielberg's "Lincoln" from a few years back - definitely worth a watch if you missed it in the theaters.)

Many years ago I read Oakes' earlier book "The Ruling Race" - that one I highly recommend for its empirically-based description of slavery and social conditions in the ante-bellum American South, as well as the development of white supremacist ideology among the slaveholding class and their political allies. The book was originally published in 1982 (so says google), but I think it holds up very well.

Best,
Dan

[Dan Montgomery]

Corbett was an actual mad hatter, if I recall correctly.

[Derek]

In an uncanny bit of synchronicity, dpreview just published this today (May 5th):

https://www.dpreview.com/news/3561719420/video-building-a-diy-wet-plate-camera-and-photographing-ghosts

Note that I haven’t watched the video, so can’t vouch for its quality.