[Presidential] [First Ladies] Lincoln, Mary Todd Autograph Letter, signed

(New York), November 26, (1862). 1 p.; 8 1/4 x 5 in. (209 x 127 mm). Autograph draft of a telegram, signed by Mary Todd Lincoln as First Lady, to Mr. Augustus Gumpert (sic), regarding her son Tad: "Nov 26-/Mr. Augustus Gumpert/Baltimore Md/Barnum's Hotel/Please bring Tad/home, immediately/he can come/on Tom Cross's/car/Mrs Lincoln." Creasing from original folds; docketed on verso. Lot includes a postcard portrait of Mary Lincoln, a small engraved portrait of her, and a postcard of Abraham Lincoln. Published in Mary Todd Lincoln, Her Life and Letters (Turner & Turner, 1972).

Gustave "Gus" Gumpert "was a well-to-do Philadelphia tobacco dealer, with whom Mrs. Lincoln did business and of whom Tad was fond...Both of Tad's parents were out of Washington on this date, and the excursion to Baltimore was probably designed as a distraction." (Mary Todd Lincoln, Her Life and Letters, Turner & Turner, 1972).

Tom Cross was a White House staffer, who often had special charge of Tad.

The Barnum's City Hotel was the same hotel where John Wilkes Booth and conspirators finalized their plans to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

R.M. Smythe & Co., Sale 261, Lot 220, May 16, 2006
Sotheby's, New York, Sale 5187, Lot 220, May 23, 1984