What did Lincoln read?

[Donna McCreary]

(07-05-2013 12:48 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Donna, do you have Harry Pratt's The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln? If so, on pp. 180-181 there is a large list of book purchases for the White House library made by both Abraham and Mary. Examples: Mary bought a book titled "History of Birds" for $.63. She also bought a set of Shakespeare for $12.00. Abraham bought a volume of Mrs. Sigourney's poems for $1.25.

Roger, yes, I have seen this list. I listed the link about books they Lincolns owned in Springfield because that is their personal library. Books purchased in the White House were purchased for the White House library - people other than the Lincolns read them. Mary was also fond of giving books as gifts. After Lincoln's death, Mary purchased serveral sets of Shakespeare's works.

I have always been fascinated by what Mary read. As a fan of the writings of Lord Byron, I was thrilled to see that Mary purchased a volumn of his works for the White House. I hope she read them!

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(07-05-2013 05:48 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  In 2007 in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Robert Bray published a 54 page paper called "What Abraham Lincoln Read." He followed the path of Don and Virginia Fehrenbacher by giving grades to various books that Lincoln may or may not have read. Here is the link.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...5608,d.eWU

Best
Rob

Thanks for posting this one Rob. I was looking for it and could not find it earlier.