(Wall, Bernhardt) illustrator. Lincoln, Abraham. The Gettysburg Speech by Abraham Lincoln Delivered on Nov. 19, 1863; etched by Bernhardt Wall. New York: [Bernhardt Wall], 1924. LIMITED EDITION.
Square 8vo - 8-1/2" x 7-3/4". [2] blank leaves, [24] etched leaves printed on rectos only, [2] blank leaves. Complete with etched typographic script, illustrated vignettes, full-page plates, and an etched frontispiece portrait. Original publisher's quarter taupe cloth over thick raw binder's board covers, with the title etched and stamped in black to the upper right quadrant of the upper board.
The physical condition of the volume is VERY GOOD +. The raw, industrial binder's boards remain rigid and structurally sound, showing typical, minor rounding and rubbing to the corners, alongside localized minor fraying to the cloth at the head and tail of the spine panel. Internally, the condition of the book is FINE, with the heavy paper sheets remaining exceptionally fresh, crisp, and clean. The two original cancelled copper plates remain firmly embedded within their custom-recessed mounts on the inside covers.
Fine Press Intaglio Bookmaking and Extra-Illustrated Defaced Plates
This work represents a towering technical achievement in early twentieth-century American private press book production, executed entirely by the "Postcard King" turned fine pressman, Bernhardt Wall (1872–1956). Eschewing traditional moveable letterpress type, Wall personally etched, hand-inked, pulled, and bound every leaf of this production, rendering both the text of the address and its historical illustrations via intaglio copper-plate etching. The edition contains the complete text of Lincoln's address across eight etched leaves, interspersed with eight illustrative plates, two of which are hand-signed in pencil by Wall, alongside an additionally signed limitation statement and a signed frontispiece portrait of Lincoln.
This specific exemplar belongs to the highly prized "Cancelled Plate" issue, restricted to just eleven copies prepared alongside the standard printing of one hundred. To definitively conclude the production run and protect the exclusivity of the edition, Wall defaced or "cancelled" the original copper matrices by scoring heavy lines across the finished designs. This copy is heavily extra-illustrated by the permanent structural integration of cancelled copper plate 10 ("A Civil War Action") set inside the upper cover, and cancelled copper plate 11 ("Text 3") set inside the lower cover, supplemented by printed proof strikes taken from these defaced plates to showcase the cancellation marks.
Fine Print Bibliography and Institutional Census
Bernhardt Wall’s entirely etched multi-page volumes occupy a highly specialized niche within American graphic arts and Lincolniana bibliography. Due to the labor-intensive requirements of hand-inking and wiping intaglio plates for every single page turn, his production totals were strictly limited, and the fragile raw-board bindings were prone to severe deterioration under standard library use.
A current global sweep of the OCLC/WorldCat database confirms the intense, near-complete scarcity of this specialized variant, locating only one solitary copy of this "cancelled plate" issue in permanent public or institutional collections worldwide, held by the University of Miami Special Collections.
AN EXTRAORDINARY, HIGHLY DOCUMENTED COPY OF BERNHARDT WALL’S HAND-MADE INTAGLIO MASTERPIECE, NUMBER 6 OF ONLY 11 EXEMPLARS SECURED WITH THE ORIGINAL CANCELLED COPPER MATRICES, CONSTITUTING A PARAMOUNT ARTIFACT FOR ADVANCED PRIVATE AND INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS OF FINE AMERICAN INTAGLIO PRINTING AND HIGHEST-TIER LINCOLNIANA.
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