[Abraham Lincoln, full-length portrait, seated]

Photo shows Abraham Lincoln with a badly swollen hand after shaking hands with thousands of people during his journey to Washington, DC. During most of the sitting he kept his right hand closed or out of view. Probably taken on Sunday, Feb. 24, 1861 by Alexander Gardner at Brady's Gallery on Pennsylvania Ave.(Source: Ostendorf, p. 80)
The Library's copy negative was made from a photograph in the Lincoln Museum.

Ostendorf, no. 50
Meserve, no. 68
Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 80.

Alexander Gardner (October 17, 1821 - December 10, 1882) was a Scottish photographer who is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War. He emigrated to the United States in 1856 and worked as a photographer in Mathew Brady's studio. Gardner was sent to document the American Civil War and produced some of the most iconic images of the conflict, including photographs of the battlefields at Antietam and Gettysburg. After the war, Gardner photographed President Lincoln and the American West, including images of Native Americans, settlers, and the construction of the transcontinental railroad.