(PHOTOGRAPHY.) [Alschuler, Samuel G.; photographer.] Cabinet card of a very early Lincoln ambrotype....

(PHOTOGRAPHY.) [Alschuler, Samuel G.; photographer.] Cabinet card of a very early Lincoln ambrotype. Albumen photograph, 5 1/2 x 4 inches, on original mount with caption in negative, copyright notice on recto, and A.R. Campbell backstamp on verso; very faint crease in lower left corner, early owners' inked stamps scraped off from verso. Beatrice, NE, 1885 (from an 1858 original)

Alschuler's 25 April 1858 ambrotype, taken in Urbana, IL, was just the fourth known photograph ever taken of Lincoln--and one of just 5 taken before the 16 June 1858 "House Divided" speech and Senate nomination which put him in the national spotlight. In it, Lincoln wears a velvet-collared coat which he borrowed from the photographer. The original ambrotype was purchased by Lincoln admirer W.H. Somers, who had it copyrighted and distributed in the present form. Ostendorf O-4 and pages 10-11.