[Lincolniana] Smith, Clark M.:

CLOTHING AT NEARLY HALF PRICE! THE ENTIRE STOCK OF CLOTHING IN THE STORE FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY T.S. LITTLE, NO. 6, S. SIDE SQUARE HAS PASSED INTO THE HANDS OF C.M. SMITH & SON! WHO INTEND DOING A STRICTLY CASH BUSINESS, AND WILL PROCEED AT ONCE TO A REGULAR SLAUGHTER OF THIS FINE STOCK OF GOODS. NOTHING LIKE THIS HAS BEEN SEEN IN SPRINGFIELD! ALL FORMER PRICES PUT FAR OUT OF SIGHT! REDUCTION! IN EXPENSES, IN CLOTHING, IN EVERYTHING, WILL BE THE RULE!

[Springfield: 1876]. Printed broadside, 8-1/4" x 11-3/4." A variety of bold type sizes and fonts. At head of title: "1876. 1876. 1876." Very Good.

Smith, a Springfield merchant, married Ann Todd, a younger sister of Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary. Smith's correspondence with Lincoln is held at the Library of Congress and at the Lincoln Presidential Library. Smith owned most of the block comprising the South Side Square, number 6 included, with four to five of his own businesses in the buildings connected by tunnels. Lincoln's office was at 528 East Adams, on the southwest corner of Sixth and Adams Streets, South Side Square, next door to one of Smith's businesses.
Based on Springfield maps of 1859 and 1913, the address on this broadside may be the same address where Lincoln wrote his first Inaugural Address. "When it was time for Lincoln to write his inaugural speech, he needed a quiet place away from the crush of his other duties. He found it in an unused room in a Springfield store run by his brother-in-law, Clark M. Smith. The desk Lincoln used remained in Smith's family for nearly a century, until Smith's daughter sold it to the Illinois State Historical Library in 1953 for $500" [web site of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]. Item #38898

Price: $750.00