Is this the earliest known photograph of Abraham Lincoln?

[Abraham Lincoln, Congressman-elect from Illinois. Three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front] (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Nicholas H. Shephed, photographer. [Springfield, Ill., 1846 or 1847]

Let's call the photograph above Image 1.

Or is this the earliest known photograph of Abraham Lincoln?

Copyright Albert Kaplan 1983

Used here in accordance with this rights notice from  Mr. Kaplan's website.    

Let's call this one Image 2.

The Library of Congress holds Image 1.  The LOC says about the precedence of the photograph:

Notes:
This daguerreotype is the earliest-known photograph of Abraham Lincoln, taken at age 37 when he was a frontier lawyer in Springfield and Congressman-elect from Illinois. (Source: Ostendorf, p. 4) 

Attributed to Nicholas H. Shepherd, based on the recollections of Gibson W. Harris, a law student in Lincoln's office from 1845 to 1847. (Source: Gibson William Harris, "My Recollections of Abraham Lincoln," Women's Home Companion (November 1903), 9-11.) Robert Lincoln, son of the President, thought the photo was made in either St. Louis or Washington during his father's term in Congress.

Published in: Lincoln's photographs: a complete album / by Lloyd Ostendorf. Dayton, OH: Rockywood Press, 1998, p. 4-5.

Title devised by Library staff.
Gift; Mary Lincoln Isham; 1937.
Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress).

Mr. Albert Kaplan holds Image 2.  Mr. Kaplan has an entire website devoted to proving his point both that Image 2 is of Abraham Lincoln, and that it is the earliest known photograph of him.  His website is here.

I can hardly do justice to Mr. Kaplan's case and the evidence he has put forward here, so go and read it for yourself.

Nor can I do justice to the scholarship and time which must have led to  the Library of Congress making the claim that Image 1 is the earliest known photograph of Lincoln either.

If you are interested, do your reading and decide for yourself.

Maybe we will need Erroll Morris to help find the truth.

Comments

[Albert Kaplan]

According to Frederick Hill Meserve, Robert Todd Lincoln stated that the image now known as Meserve # 1 ..."believed it was made in Washington about 1848"....

Robert Todd Lincoln gave it as a gift to Mr. Meserve, and it is now in the posession of the Library of Congress. One can read the whole quote in Meserve's 1944 book, "The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln".

It seems to me that there is no reason to suppose (in the absence of evidence to the contrary) that Robert Todd Lincoln was mistaken about this daguerreotype. And I have never seen any evidence to the contrary, merely a whole bunch of Lincoln scholars who give a date of from 1843 to 1846, made by a Springfield daguerreotypist.

The physical evidence supports Robert Todd Lincoln's statement to Meserve. It is very poorly made from every point of view. It looks like it was made quickly and thoughtlessly. There is no reason to believe it was studio-made. Rather, I think it was probably made at the Capital in Washington by a daguerreotypist who was making images of all the members of the House. But, no matter, the main thing is this: Is there any reason to question what Robert Rodd Lincoln said about it?

[Bob Meade]

Mr. Kaplan,

Thank you for stopping by my blog and giving further illumination to the interesting case of the earliest known photographic portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

[Ana]

The man on image No. 2 is not Abraham Lincoln. Just look at his nose. With all due respect, I think Mr. Kaplan's main motivation for 'proving his point' is money. He sells prints of the photo... $175 per print!!!

Also, he's wrongfully claiming copyright. According to US laws (I believe Mr. Kaplan is in Georgia, USA): 1) the original image is undoubtedly in public domain; 2) works resulting from mechanical reproduction, such as photographs or scans of two-dimensional artwork or of original photographs, are NOT copyrightable (i.e., mere labor, if not original or creative, is NOT copyrightable).

[Bob Meade]

Ana, I understand what you are saying.

Copyright in a very interesting area of law. And there are different laws applicable in different coutries. I can't keep up with them all, and since this blog is read around the world I availed myself of the licence which Mr. Kaplan offered.

Mr. Kaplan's attempt to assert copyright, even for commercial purposesm is little different to that which many people and institutions around the world try to do.

[Albert Kaplan]

The United States copyright number is VAu 56-526 dated November 4, 1983.

[Bob Meade]

Thanks again Mr. Kaplan.

[Kay]

Unless Lincoln had surgery to realign and reshape his chin and change the shape of his nose, the guy in the second picture is NOT Lincoln. I don't care what the forensics say, he doesn't even look like Lincoln!