Vidal, Gore — Lincoln

Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, The Franklin Library, 1984. Signed Limited Edition. Leather bound. Navy blue leather with gilt decoration all around. Three raised bands on spine with gilt lettering. All edges gilt. Marbled end papers with satin place-holder ribbon. No dust jacket, as issued. 657, [4] pp. with illustrations by Thomas B. Allen. Includes a message from the author, special to this edition, which was published specifically for the members of The First Edition Society. Also included, after the text body, is an afterword followed by a brief author biography. Lincoln is a masterwork of historical fiction, in which Gore Vidal combines a comprehensive knowledge of Civil War America with 20th-century literary technique, probing the minds and motives of the men surrounding Abraham Lincoln, including personal secretary John Hay and scheming cabinet members William Seward and Salmon P. Chase, as well as his wife, Mary Todd. Fine. Clean, tight, unread copy. Pristine but for a tiny ding to fore edge of back cover . Signed on a front free end paper, tissue-guarded.