The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Ida Tarbell - 1906: Complete 4-Volume Set

This is a wonderful complete 4-volume set of "The Life of Abraham Lincoln" by Ida Tarbell. 1906; The Lincoln History Society; New York. The volumes are illustrated throughout with photographs, maps and illustrations. Gilt page edges at the top edge of the text block. "Drawn from original sources and containing many Speeches, Letters, and Telegrams hitherto unpublished and Illustrated with many reproductions from original paintings, photographs, etc."

From the Preface:
"(The desire for the book) was to add to our knowledge of Abraham Lincoln by collecting and preserving the reminiscences of such of his contemporaries as were then living. The new material collected will, we believe, add considerably to our knowledge of Lincoln's life. Documents are presented establishing clearly that his mother was not the nameless girl that she has been so generally believed. His father, Thomas Lincoln, is shown to have been something more than a shiftless 'poor white,' and Lincoln's early life, if hard and crude, to have been full of honest, cheerful effort at betterment. His struggles for a livelihood and his intellectual development from the time he started out for himself until he was admitted to the bar are traced with more detail than in any other biography, and considerable new light is thrown on this period of his life. The sensational account of his running away from his own wedding, accepted generally by historians, is shown to be false. To the period of Lincoln's life from 1849, when he gave up politics, until 1858, the period of the Lincoln and Douglas Debates, the most important contribution made is the report of what is known as the 'Lost Speech.'"

Condition:
Some light rubbing to some of the covers; sharp corners; nice spines; all 4 volumes have shelf wear/chipping to the top, bottom and long edges of the boards (see photos). The insides of all volumes are in terrific condition - clean and white pages with no notable condition issues found; name written in pen on front end paper of volume I...no other writing found. All volumes are tightly bound with no loose pages. Partial crack at the front hinge of volume II. Volume IV has 4 small stain spots at the gutter between the rear end papers. The front end papers of volume II have some light staining. Overall the set is in very good condition.