FORE WORD T is with pleasure that this volume is presented to the American people as a direct and original contribution to our national literature. As a collection of the famous portraits of Lincoln, taken from the greatest collections in the world and valued at more than $150,000, it alone would claim distinction. This is the first collection of all the known original photographs of Lincoln and represents years of research by the most eminent American collectors. It is, however, upon its graphic literary treatment that this volume must take its position as one of the most important books of the times. It is a book with a mission-and that mission is to revive in the homes of America the true spirit of Lincoln; that man of rugged honesty who said that "God must have loved the common people or he would not have made so many of them;" the man who "knew what it meant to start at the bottom and work to the top;" the man who "met misfortune face to face and overcame it with the might of manhood." Its psychological insight into human nature; its philosophical grasp on life and its opportunities; its appeal to the American heart and conscience, with its vigorous application of the principles of Lincoln to everyday life, inspire one with new courage and new ambition. Lincoln lives again in the pages of this volume, through the portraits and the word paintings that are masterpieces of literary art. It has been the desire of the publishers to make it a new American classic in which the generations may look upon Lincoln in the most dramatic situations in his life, feeling the impulse of a great heart and the inspiration of an indomitable will and resolute purpose. More books have been written about Lincoln than any other man in the world's history, but this is the first time that he has been brought before the people in the actual negatives for which he sat during his life and in text pictures in which he again moves among us. It has been the purpose of the publishers to present, in the fewest possible pages, a full acquaintance with Lincoln and an understanding of what such a man means to the world of humanity. It has further been desired to make this a complete unfolding of the vital events in his life. This has been accomplished by an interesting chronology in which the whole panorama of the growth of the nation, during the life of Lincoln, is presented. The volume further includes the nine great speeches upon which Lincoln rose to the highest political honor within the gift of the American people. These, with a record of the celebrated Lincoln Collections in America, and the hundred greatest books on Lincoln, fulfill its title as the "Portrait Life of Lincoln," and give it immediate position as the first authoritative handbook on Lincoln. CONTENTS A Photographic Narrative Which Interprets the Character and Life of Abraham Lincoln, the Greatest American THE FOUNDATION OF LINCOLN'S CHARACTER. THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE ON LINCOLN'S LIFE. THE POLITICAL PRINCIPLES OF LINCOLN... THE IMPULSE THAT HELD LINCOLN STEADFAST. THE RUGGED HONESTY OF LINCOLN'S HEART. THE MAN WHO FIRST MADE LINCOLN KNOWN THE CHALLENGE THAT TESTED LINCOLN'S STRENGTH. THE DEFEAT THAT MADE LINCOLN FAMOUS. THE APPEAL OF HUMANITY THAT LINCOLN HEARD.. THE FIRST TEST OF LINCOLN'S NATIONAL GREATNESS. THE INSPIRATION OF LINCOLN'S PATRIOTISM.... THE GATHERING OF HUMANITY UNDER LINCOLN. THE BURDEN OF A NATION ON LINCOLN'S HEART. THE AFFECTION OF LINCOLN FOR HIS HOME.. THE WILLINGNESS OF LINCOLN TO GIVE HIS LIFE. THE FORTITUDE OF LINCOLN IN HOUR OF TRIAL.. THE CRUMBLING NATION IN LINCOLN'S ARMS.. THE DETERMINED WILL OF LINCOLN AMONG MEN. THE TRUE TEST OF LINCOLN'S STATESMANSHIP... THE STRENGTH OF LINCOLN IN A NATION'S PERIL. THE FAITH OF LINCOLN IN THE COMMON PEOPLE. THE ABILITY OF LINCOLN TO OVERCOME DEFEAT. THE HOPEFULNESS OF LINCOLN IN MISFORTUNE. THE MIGHT OF LINCOLN IN HIS COUNTRY'S CRISIS.. THE HAND OF LINCOLN ON THE CHAIN OF BONDAGE. THE GREATEST SACRIFICE OF LINCOLN'S LIFE... THE POWER OF LINCOLN TO CONQUER HIMSELF.. THE HUMILITY OF LINCOLN IN HOUR OF VICTORY.. A Revelation of the Last Scenes in the Closing Hours of Lincoln from Actual Photographs Taken at the Time THE LAST LINGERING MOMENTS OF A NOBLE LIFE. THE MAGNIFICENCE OF LIFE'S LAST TRIUMPH... The Great Speeches that Mark the Rise of Abraham Lincoln as an Orator and Leader of the People THE FIRST PUBLIC SPEECH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. THE FIRST GREAT PATRIOTIC SPEECH OF LINCOLN.. THE FIRST GREAT NATIONAL SPEECH OF LINCOLN.. THE SPEECHES IN LINCOLN'S POLITICAL GREATNESS. THE SPEECH THAT MOLDED A NATION'S FUTURE.. THE GREATEST SPEECH IN AMERICAN HISTORY. |