Earliest Lincoln letter published in a newspaper?

December 14, 2020 by  
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

Finding the earliest mention of notable people in period newspapers, long before they would become national figures, is a quest of many. Such nuggets–when found–can become treasured pieces for any collection.
We recently discovered what, by our research, is the earliest letter signed by Lincoln to appear in a newspaper. The “New York Weekly Tribune” of July 8, 1848 printed a letter signed A. Lincoln from when he was a representative from Illinois in the national legislature (see photos).In our 44 years of experience this is the earliest we have encountered. One would think letters may have appeared in his local Springfield, Illinois newspaper but lacking the holdings to do such research we can only speculate.

Are any collectors out there aware of an earlier published letter signed by Lincoln? Let the collecting world know!

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Noteworthy Issues, Pre Civil War, The Collectible Community
Tagged: ,

Comments

Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!