Too Many Scraps
Hesseltine, William B.
Too Many Scraps The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, Marion Dolores Pratt, and Lloyd A. Dunlap. Abraham Lincoln Association. Rutgers University Press. $115 (8...
...Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the entries are the merest scraps...
...The editors discuss carefully the texts of the Address, but make no effort to explain it in the terms of its setting...
...In printed form they indicate only the extent of the trivia which passes over a President's desk...
...This sample volume contains "works" from Nov...
...This was an important period in the life of Lincoln and of the nation, yet no inkling of the significance of those months appears in these works...
...5, 1863, to Sept...
...115 (8 volumes...
...Certainly those who pretend that Lincoln was the director of military victory or of Congressional legislation cannot substantiate their claims from these pages...
...In their original form these notes about minor appointments, passes through the lines, pardons of prisoners, and endorsements referring documents to departmental heads may have high value in the autograph market...
...The most significant items relate to the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's efforts to reconstruct loyal governments in Louisiana and Arkansas...
...12, 1864...
...The general impression of the volume is perhaps misleading...
...The editors have done an excellent job of identifying these scraps and in giving, in footnotes, the "other side" of the correspondence...
...There is, however, no "news" in it, and the sample can hardly persuade other than confirmed Lincoln collectors to purchase the collected works...
...Reviewed by William B. Hesseltine ONE volume, as a sample of the eight-volume "Collected Works" of Lincoln, bears high testimony to the scholarship of the editors and the diligence of the Abraham Lincoln Association in collecting every extant scrap of paper bearing Lincoln's signature...
Vol. 17 • August 1953 • No. 8
