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It looks like he is playing with something in his hands. I wonder what that was? A watch perhaps. A coin. Interesting.

On closer inspection, I see a watch chain over his thumb -- must be his watch.

I really like this one. We've all seen so many photos of Lincoln with the same serious face, where here he's almost smiling and he's definitely fiddling with a watch or something. Makes him seem more like a real person.

A much earlier photo also shows his left hand blurry. He would have sat for enough long exposure photos to know he shouldn't fiddle with his hands while posing. I think he couldn't completely control his left hand for some reason.

A President of a country usually is not a professional on modeling, and usually the gesture a person posed reflects his personality and style. From this image, Lincoln, a man focus on his work, looks relax even though in a tiresome smile. It must be very tough to be a President during Civil War, and to be a White male to conduct slavery abolishment that means he was working under life threaten condition when he needs to faces the crowd on this issue. The passion and tension over so many public issues. Is it good to be a leader?

They always say Lincoln was a homely man. I would say he was quite handsome here. Can you see the seeds of greatness here?

I think this is a very nice picture of president Abraham Lincoln. He looks great in this picture. We must thank Shepherd, Nicholas H., the photographer for taking this picture of the president. The picture of the president is a great memory of a great man!

Lincoln was a tyrant.

idswart, lincoln probably was a tyrant. wikipedia outlines the most basic aspects of this, saying he: "suspended the writ of habeas corpus, spent money before Congress appropriated it, and imprisoned 18,000 suspected Confederate sympathizers without trial." Lincoln violated the rule of law, the constitution, the human rights of thousands - to a much greater extent than any president that came before him. the very troubling thing is that out of this tyranny, and perhaps even because of this tyranny, the even greater tyranny of slavery was ended. when we look at Lincoln we see an incredibly complicated figure who challenges our ideas of what is just and what is right from many different directions. it does depend somewhat on your definition of tyranny though. Lincoln never declared himself emperor or king or president-for-life, which is usually what people think of when they think of tyrants. this is why even though Lincoln violated the constitution and trampled on rights throughout the course of the civil war, it is difficult to put him in the same class as Napoleon or Mao.

I agree with most of what you had to say, but I believe that the original Constitutional Republic built by our founding fathers ceased to be after the end of the War Between the States.

The man knew how to relax for a long portrait. He looks like a gent out for dinner, not the President during The Civil War.

I have Always loved Lincoln~thanks so much for sharing these!~YAY~

@LotusMonger: i believe his legs were bent at that reclining angle because they were too long to sit comfortably in the chair otherwise.

never seen this one. he does appear relaxed -- Seen in your Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) set. (?)

Gosh, that's a beauty.