[Abraham Lincoln, presidential candidate, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right]

Photo shows Lincoln in a print made from a negative taken by Alexander Hesler, Springfield, Illinois, June 3, 1860. Lincoln said of this portrait: "That looks better and expresses me better than any I have ever seen; if it pleases the people I am satisfied." (Source: Ostendorf, p. 47) "The original plates were retained by George B. Ayres when he bought and sold the Hesler gallery right after the Civil War. In 1881, Ayres made some fine prints directly from the plates, at the same time producing a duplicate set of glass negatives. In 1933, the original plates were cracked in the mail. The post office paid the claim and presented the broken negatives to the Smithsonian Institution. The duplicate plates are now owned by the Chicago Historical Society. (Source: Ostendorf, p. 49)
Blind stamp, upper right corner: G.B. Ayres, copyright, 1894.

Ostendorf, no. 27
Meserve, no. 25
Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 47.
Exhibited: "With Malice Toward None : The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition" at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2009.
Accession box no. DLC/PP-1972:140