Abraham Lincoln: Sandburg, Carl

Signed book: Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol. 1 by Carl Sandburg. NY: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1939. Hardcover with gilt-titling to the spine, 6.5 x 9.5. Signed and inscribed on the opening page in black ink, "Tom Starr, with appreciation of his basic research in the Lincoln field, Carl Sandburg." Except for the book’s opening pages and first chapter, the original textblock has been removed and refitted as a scrapbook of sorts, with pages comprised of sundry clippings, advertisements, and photographs, all related to Sandburg and Lincoln. In fine condition, with wear to the inner binding.

Thomas Irwin Starr (1903–1965), an editorial director for publications at the Michigan Bell Telephone Company, was a noted Abraham Lincoln scholar and collector of Lincolniana. He began collecting Lincoln-related materials after attending an auction in 1929, a pursuit that developed into a lifelong scholarly interest. In 1930, Starr discovered a long-lost newspaper printing of Abraham Lincoln’s 1856 Kalamazoo speech while researching in the Detroit Public Library, an important find that helped preserve the text of the address. He later wrote and annotated several books and articles on the 16th President and assembled a significant collection of Lincoln materials.