January 18, 1864: Subscription Book for Facsimiles of the Emancipation Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln donated the original manuscript of the Emancipation proclamation to the 1863 Chicago Sanitary Fair where it was purchased by Thomas B. Bryan.  Bryan had facsimiles made and sold to benefit the Sanitary Commission and the Soldiers Home.  The item shown here is the title page for a subscription book collecting orders for the facsimile, with Abraham Lincoln and vice-president Hamlin as the first two subscribers. Lincoln received the first two lithographed copies from Bryan on January 18, 1864.

United States Sanitary Commission.Subscription book for facsimiles of the Emancipation Proclamation, [1863]. AMs 432/28