The Ballad of Abraham Lincoln

[Gene C]

Short, 6 page poem written by Bayard Taylor.
Copyright in 1869 and published in book form for children. One of the first children's biography's about Abraham Lincoln, it is unusual in that is written in rhyme.
The focus is on Lincoln's character more than his accomplishments.
One thing that caught my attention were the 4 color illustrations, very unusual for a book of this period.

Taylor was a poet, and was famous during his lifetime of writing about his travels throughout the world.

According to Wikipedia "Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, hired Taylor and sent him to California to report on the gold rush. He returned by way of Mexico and published another two-volume collection of travel essays, El Dorado; or, Adventures in the Path of Empire (1850). Within two weeks of release, the books sold 10,000 copies in the U.S. and 30,000 in Great Britain."

"In 1862, he was appointed to the U.S. diplomatic service as secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, and acting minister to Russia for a time during 1862-3 after the resignation of Ambassador Simon Cameron"

Most of the biographies about him do not even mention this short work of his.

https://archive.org/stream/balladofabrah...0/mode/2up

[RJNorton]

Thanks for posting, Gene. I had never heard of this work previously.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks Gene - now how did you like it? Would you recommend it?

[Gene C]

Since it's only a few pages it is OK.
It takes less than 30 minutes to read.

https://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Abraham-Li...am+Lincoln

There is a less expensive reproduced copy by Nabu Press (new for $8.35) but I have been disappointed in the past with their reproduction of illustrations.

I'm content with reading it online.