Lincoln's Library

Abraham Lincoln was an avid reader from an early age. Growing up in the American West, reading was an important form of education for him. He is known to have read in many disciplines, including the Bible, law and legal history, classical literature, world and American history, and political economy. Books in this case are titles Lincoln read.

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.”—September 30, 1859 Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society