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My dear Sir: Your letter of the 1st. Inst. was received yesterday. I went at once to the Express office, got the books, placed
twenty three of them at one Book-Store; & twenty four at another, for sale, at a commission of ten per cent, and took their receipts. Of the other three books, I took one to the Register, one to the Journal, and took one home with me. I found that the editors and booksellers had all previously seen favorable notices of the work; and one of the booksellers had sent an order to Cincinnati for some copies of it. I am not much of a reader of this sort of literature; but my wife got hold of the volume I took home, read it half through last night, and is greatly interested in it. When the papers here shall have noticed it, I will send you copies. The charge at the Express office was only $1.50; I return herewith one dollar, & hold fifty cents subject to your order.
My attention to this matter has been rather a pleasure than a trouble. Yours truly--- A. LINCOLN---
[1] ALS, ICHi. John Marshall was an attorney at Shawneetown, Illinois, who had represented Gallatin County in the state's First General Assembly. His daughter, Sarah Marshall Hayden, published a book of fiction in 1854 entitled Early Engagements: and Florence, (a Sequel.). This must be the book referred to in this letter, since there is record of Lincoln's delivering twenty-three copies of Early Engagements to Birchall & Owen of Springfield on February 7 (IHi).