Books that Lincoln read...

[RJNorton]

Despite Lincoln's seeming reputation as a reader, Herndon chimed in as follows:

"Beyond a limited acquaintance with Shakespeare, Byron and Burns, Mr. Lincoln, comparatively speaking, had no knowledge of literature. He was familiar with the bible, and now and then evidenced a fancy for some poem or short sketch to which his attention was called by someone else, or which he happened to run across in his cursory reading of books or newspapers. He never in his life sat down and read a book through, and yet he could readily quote any numbers of passages from the few volumes whose pages he had hastily scanned."