Description:

Lincoln Abraham

Abraham Lincoln Collector Frederick H. Meserve ALS

1p ALS on "Frederick H. Meserve, 148 East 78th Street, New York 21, N.Y." letterhead inscribed overall and 2x signed by Lincoln collector Frederick H. Meserve, once as "Frederick H. Meserve" within the body of the letter, and once as "F.G. Meserve" at bottom. Written in New York City on April 21, 1960. The watermarked cream paper is in near fine condition, with expected light paper folds and a little edge toning, 8.5" x 11".

 

Frederick Hill Meserve (1865-1962), a world-renown collector of Lincoln and Civil War era photography, ephemera, maps, and books, wrote this gently comedic letter to fellow Civil War enthusiast Arnold F. Gates (1914-1993) in the spring of 1960.

 

The 95-year-old collector wrote: "My son Leighton handed to me last night, your letter addressed to All Round Tables and Others, and although I see you write of a man named Frederick H. Meserve, I cannot be he. Surely you have described some other Meserve, and I cannot realy [sic be the one to fit the description, much as I want to do so…I thank you for what you have written, and I claim you as a friend…".

 

Frederick H. Meserve began collecting Lincolniana and Civil War memorabilia in 1897, with the intention of illustrating his father's Civil War diary. Meserve continued collecting over the next sixty years, and eventually amassed some 200,000 pieces including previously unknown or lost images of Lincoln. Meserve's collection was so complete that he essentially became the custodian of "Lincoln's image." Meserve was approached by medal and currency engravers, as well as by the sculptors of Lincoln's Memorial Monument, for direct access to his collection of presidential photography. Meserve published, along with Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg, The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln in 1944. In 2015, the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection was acquired by the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in New Haven, Connecticut.

 

Meserve's correspondent Arnold F. Gates also had a lifelong interest in the Civil War. Gates served as an editor and officer of the Round Table Yearbook of New York City (is this the same organization that Meserve characterized as "All Round Tables and Others"?) between 1952-1967. Gates edited and published works relating to the Civil War period, including The Rough Side of War: The Civil War Journal of Chesley A. Mosman, First Lieutenant, Company D, 59th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

 

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