To mark the sesquicentennial of the bloodiest conflict on American soil, the Library of Congress has published two Civil War-era books featuring items drawn from its collections.
“Library of Congress Illustrated Timeline of the Civil War”
The nation’s library, in collaboration with Little, Brown and Company, has published “The Library of Congress Illustrated Timeline of the Civil War” by Margaret E. Wagner, a senior writer and editor in the Publishing Office. The book includes an introduction by Gary W. Gallagher, the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia.
Drawn from rare source material in the unparalleled Civil War collections of the world’s largest library, “The Library of Congress Illustrated Timeline of the Civil War” is an authoritative and engaging chronological narrative of the conflict that raged across the United States from 1861-1865. Quotes from figures—both well-known and unsung—provide testaments to the war’s broad scope and complexity, and to the determination and valor that characterized the people on both sides of the conflict.
Among its panoply of illustrations—including some materials rarely seen and never-before published—readers will encounter manuscripts in Lincoln’s own hand, onsite drawings made by a Civil War combat artist, maps, color lithographs, political cartoons, posters, period photographs, and much more. Illustrations and text together reveal dimensions of this pivotal conflict not covered in standard Civil War histories.
The 240-page, hardcover volume, with more than 350 color illustrations, is available for $35 in bookstores nationwide and at the Library of Congress Sales Shop, Washington, D.C., 20540-4985. Credit-card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557, or shop on the Internet at www.loc.gov/shop/.
“Long Remembered: Lincoln and his Five Versions of the Gettysburg Address”
While scholars are not sure what Abraham Lincoln read from when he delivered his remarks at the consecration of the Gettysburg burial ground, they do agree that Lincoln wrote at least five versions of his famous Gettysburg Address. Two of these five copies—in Lincoln’s own hand—are housed at the Library of Congress, which contains one of the largest collections of Lincolniana in the world.
To commemorate the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in 1963, the Library of Congress published “Long Remembered: Lincoln and his Five Versions of the Gettysburg Address” with text by two scholars from the Library’s Manuscript Division, David D. Mearns and Lloyd A. Dunlap.
The Library, in association with Levenger, has recently updated and reproduced this classic work to mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Printed on archival paper and Smythe-sewn in a linen binding, the new volume is a collector’s edition of an American treasure.
High-resolution, digitized color images of all five versions of the famous address replace the black-and-white facsimiles that appeared in the original edition. Two of the versions—the John G. Nicolay and John Hay copies—are printed unbound and placed in a pocket in the book, folded as Lincoln folded them.
To update the book further, Lincoln historian Douglas L. Wilson contributed a commentary on the Gettysburg Address and retired Library of Congress curator John R. Sellers discusses his experiences working with Lincoln’s historic address during his years in the Manuscript Division. A host of historic documents and photographs from the Library’s collections have also been added.
The 136-page, hardcover book with 20 illustrations is available for $69 through the Levenger website at www.levenger.comand the Library of Congress Sales Shop, Washington, D.C., 20540-4985. The Library will accept credit-card orders at (888) 682-3557.
