The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln

Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff tan wrappers. xiv, 203pp. Frontispiece, illustrations. Very good. Faintest of wear to outer wrappers only, with price sticker scuff at upper right of rear wrapper, else tight and internally fine. Tight and nice later softbound printing of this fascinating 1986 study, one of the most provocative and intriguing Mary Todd Lincoln titles ever. This copy bears a meaty letter from each of the distinguished co-authors as well. Tipped to inside front wrapper is a 2-page Autograph Letter Signed from McMurtry, 8¼" X 11", Fort Wayne, IN, 14 November 1973. Addressed to noted Lincoln scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93) Near fine. Two original folds. On pale blue "Lincoln Herald" letterhead, McMurtry chats with this publication's book review editor about a new title (The Stars and the Stripes) that "should be reviewed in the Lincoln Herald because of its Lincoln and Civil War content. Shall I send it to you for review or should I designate some one to review it? You could do an excellent job of it. I will await your decision. It is such a fabulous book I would like to retain the copy for myself. However, I will await your decision.... P.S. I might get Mark Neely to review it for the Lincoln Herald." Boldly penned in blue ballpoint and signed simply "Gerald." Tipped to facing front flyleaf is a Typed Note Signed from Neely, 1p, 8½" X 11", Fort Wayne, IN, 22 August 1979. Addressed to Ralph G. Newman (1912-98, founder of Chicago's noted Abraham Lincoln Book Shop). Very good. Two original folds. On pictorial letterhead of The Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum citing him as director, Neely chats about a couple of Lincoln tidbits, then adds, "Gerald McMurtry and I have been looking for an update of Angle's Shelf [of Lincoln Books] which he recalls your having done some time back. Does such a thing exist? Where might we find it?" Signed simply "Mark" in black ballpoint. McMurtry (1906-88) was the famed director of the Department of Lincolniana at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate; Neely (born 1944) is a popular, prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of Lincoln and the Civil War.