Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, in the Celebrated Campaign of 1858, in Illinois.Columbus: Follett, Foster and Company, 1860. Publisher's brown cloth stamped in blind, housed in custom chemise and slipcase. First edition, first issue, with no rule above the publisher's imprint on the copyright page, no advertisements, and numeral 2 at the bottom of page 17. 9 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches (23.5 x 15.5 cm); viii, 268 pp. Some losses to spine ends (especially at the head), wear from shelf to extreme lower edge of boards; Sparse foxing (more to first gathering), discreet paper repair of a tear into the text on page 95-96, almost invisible. Bookplate on front free endpaper; gift presentation.

Running as a little-known candidate for the Illinois senatorship in 1858, Lincoln challenged the incumbent, the Democrat Stephen Douglas to a series of debates. The result was a memorable chain of lively arguments in front of cheering crowds. Though Lincoln lost the senatorial race, he wisely compiled and preserved the texts of the debates and had them published in advance of the presidential election of 1860, during which he defeated a split Democratic party. Wessen, Debates of Lincoln and Douglas, 91-106. Monaghan 69. Howes L338. Sabin 41156. See McMurtry, Different Editions (1934).