This early commemorative edition of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, held by the Scheide Library within Princeton University Library’s Special Collections, was published in Philadelphia by Frederick Leypoldt on or about 6 June 1864. Signed in pen and ink by President Lincoln, Secretary of State William H. Seward, and Lincoln’s secretary, John G. Nicolay, the document is one of 48 copies printed at the expense of two Princeton University graduates, Charles Godfrey Leland and George Henry Boker, to be sold for $10 each at the Grand Central Fair in Philadelphia for the benefit of Union servicemen and their families.

Lincoln’s autograph signature. Scheide Library 115.2

Today, 27 of the 48 copies are known to survive.

Princeton connections: Charles Godfrey Leland (Princeton Class of 1845) fought for liberty on the barricades of Paris in 1848 and with the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. He helped popularize the term ‘emancipation’ (in place of ‘abolition’) and later became a journalistic editor and folklorist.

See Leland’s papers at PUL: https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/C0204

George Henry Boker (Princeton Class of 1842) was a distinguished poet and playwright and an avid fundraiser for the benefit of Union casualties. He later served as a diplomat in Turkey and Russia. Boker and Leland had been good friends since childhood.

See Boker’s papers at PUL: https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/C0208