Rare Photograph of Abraham Lincoln with Son Tad to Auction

A rare signed photograph of former US President Abraham Lincoln and his son will go under the hammer in Bonhams' June 16-25 Fine Books & Manuscripts sale.

With an estimate of $60,000–$90,000, the portrait taken at photographer Matthew Brady's studio on February 9, 1864, by the studio manage Anthony Berger, shows Lincoln seated with a book and his young son Tad, the only time he was photographed with a family member. 

The albumen print comes on its original mount and is signed "A.Lincoln".

Berger took numerous photographs of Lincoln during the sitting and while waiting for him to change plates Lincoln started to browse one of Brady's albums with Tad. Berger decided to pose them with the album,. Lincoln chose to put on his eyeglasses for the camera, but later worried that the photograph looked too posed and might look like he was reading a Bible to Tad instead of flicking through a photo album.

The sale also features two documents related to Albert Einstein from the collection of Dr. Herbert Jehle (1907-1983), a pioneering physicist, friend of Einstein, and editor of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science newsletter. Einstein’s powerful statement on his participation in the Atom Bomb Project, the original typed and signed manuscript, has an estimate of $100,000 – $150,000. Additionally, an autographed letter from Einstein to Jehle reflecting Einstein's post-war advocacy for peace and his realistic understanding of world politics (estimate: $20,000–$30,000) was meant to endorse Jehle's article on science and morality for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.