Lincoln, Abraham | "Four score and seven years ago …"

Lincoln, Abraham

The Gettysburg Address in the New-York Daily Tribune, Vol. XXIII, No. 7601. New York: [Greeley & McElrath], Friday, November 20, 1863

Folio, 8 pages (520 x 395 mm) folded but entirely unopened and preserved on a single very large sheet of paper, woodcut vignette incorporated in title, text in six columns; a bit of minor marginal foxing, sheet creased and so printed in several spots affecting legibility of text but not affecting Lincoln's words at all. Half blue morocco slipcase, chemise.

A rare first-day, front-page printing of Lincoln's "Gettysburg Gospel." This issue of the Daily Tribune is dated 20 November, the day after the Gettysburg Address, and includes, in addition to Lincoln's speech, the President's response to a serenade, Edward Everett's lengthy principal oration, and extensive reports of the ceremonies. The coverage begins on page one (much of which is given over to battle reports) with an account of the President's arrival at Gettysburg the afternoon of November 18 and a description of the dedication ceremony, including the military procession, the performance of a funeral dirge, and the benediction by Rev. Mr. Stockton. Lincoln's address is transcribed next (at the bottom of the fifth column, continued to the top of the sixth), followed by Everett's speech, which extends to almost the entirety of the second page. (The New-York Semi-Weekly Tribune of the same day printed the beginning of Everett's speech on the first page, but concluded it, followed by Lincoln's address on the last.)

The text of Lincoln's address is the Associated Press version, prepared by Joseph L. Gilbert from his shorthand notes and from his earlier consultation of Lincoln's manuscript; the transcription was delivered to the Daily Tribune and other newspapers by telegraph from the battlefield ceremonies. There are some slight variations between different newspapers and typesetters in terms of punctuation and capitalization, but Gilbert's original transcription can be identified by his mistaken use of the phrase "to the refinished work" instead of the correct "to the unfinished work." According to Gilbert, Lincoln's brief speech was interrupted by applause five times and the conclusion of his remarks was met by "Long continued applause" and "Three cheers."

Lincoln's response to a serenade is also transcribed on page one: "I appear before you, fellow-citizens, merely to thank you for the compliment. The inference is a very fair one that you would hear me for a little while at least, were I to commence to make a speech. I do not appear before you for the purpose of doing so, and for several substantial reasons. The most substantial of these is that I have no speech to make. [Laughter.] In my position it somewhat important that I should not say any foolish things. … I must beg of you to excuse me from addressing you further." This is the source for the inclusion of "Remarks to Citizens of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania," in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, 7:16–17.