Lincoln's Unknown Private Life: An Oral History by His Black Housekeeper Mariah Vance, 1850-1860.
Mamaroneck, NY: Hastings House Book Publishing, [1995]. Hardcover. Edited by Lloyd Ostendorf and Walter Oleksy. Small 4to. Black cloth spine with gilt lettering and black paper over boards, pictorial dust jacket. 260pp. Numerous illustrations. Fine/fine. Item #41539
ISBN: 0803893752
A superbly tight and pristine first edition of this controversial account, including a full facsimile of the manuscript made by the white teenager of the elderly Vance's memories -- whose veracity has been often questioned. On the half-title page, editor Ostendorf boldly inscribes and signs in blue ballpoint to an old friend: "For... / my friend and historian, / Lloyd Ostendorf." This Dayton, Ohio commercial artist (1921-2000) became the foremost artist interpreter of Abraham Lincoln and his circle, illustrating every facet of Lincoln's life in various media over several decades; he authored and/or illustrated several Lincoln books, such as the 1963 classic "Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose" (with Charles Hamilton). Signed copies of this title seldom surface.
Price: $95.00