BEARDLESS LINCOLN: THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT MADE HIM PRESIDENT.


[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. 1809-1865.] Glass negative, dry plate process, being a bust portrait by Matthew Brady of a beardless Lincoln, 17 x 14 inches (430 x 355 mm), late 19th century, few scratches. THE FAMOUS COOPER UNION PHOTOGRAPH. Taken by Matthew Brady the morning of February 27, 1860, hours before Lincoln's seminal Cooper Union speech, this photo of a bearded Lincoln became "known to almost every American" (Ostendorf p 37), mainly through the carte-de-visite. The portrait was engraved for newspaper, book, and drawing room illustrations and used in campaign posters and buttons. Lincoln himself is reported to have said (to someone who believed they were introducing Lincoln to Brady for the first time), "Brady and the Cooper Institute made me President." The present retouched enlargement likely dates from the late 19th century. Ostendorf O-17.