Sale 2486, Part I - The Harold Holzer Collection of Lincolniana, September 27, 2018

60 c   (PHOTOGRAPHY.) Hesler, Alexander; photographer. A print from a classic 1860 campaign negative. Silver print, 8 1 / 2 x 6 1 / 2 inches, on original plain mount with manuscript Ayres copyright notice on verso as well as a faint inked stamp by Schreiber & Sons, photographers; faint 1-inch crease in blank part of image area, a bit of minor scuffing, taped on verso into mat. Philadelphia: George B. Ayres, circa 1881 from 1860 negative [1,000/1,500] Alexander Hesler, who had taken the “tousled hair” photograph of Lincoln in 1857, returned to his most famous sitter on 3 June 1860 for this pensive portrait just two weeks after Lincoln had secured the Republican nomination. The portrait was taken near a large window at the state capitol in Illinois, rather than in a studio. Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon wrote “There is a peculiar curve of the lower lip, the lone mole on the right cheek, and a pose of the head so essentially Lincolnian; no other artist has ever caught it.” George Ayres bought out the Hesler studio circa 1866, and these attractive prints were produced from the original negative in 1881. Ostendorf O-26 and pages 46-49. with —the original advertising leaflet, “Original and Best Picture of Abraham Lincoln, Published by George B. Ayres,” 9 x 5 3 / 4 inches.