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

90 c   (PRINTS—1860 CAMPAIGN.) Doney, Thomas; engraver. Untitled portrait of the beardless Lincoln. Mezzotint, 9 1 / 2 x 7 1 / 2 inches; facsimile signature cropped from bottom margin and supplied in manuscript in lower margin, moderate foxing and minor wear including a very short closed tear in upper margin. New York, [1860] [800/1,200] An early campaign print of Lincoln produced from the 1857 Hesler photograph by French-born engraver Thomas Doney of Elgin, IL. Doney sent a copy to Lincoln early in the campaign, hoping for an endorsement. Lincoln replied belatedly on 30 July, pronouncing the portrait “a very excellent one.” It was apparently printed by William Pate in New York. Lincoln Image, pages 22-23. Doney also produced a later three-quarters portrait of the standing Lincoln, but we trace no other examples of this early mezzotint at auction, and the only institutional copy we have found is at the Library of Congress.