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Subject:

[Nabokov-l] Abraham Milton and the Gettysburg Address

Date:

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:13:01 -0300

From:

Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>

To:

<nabokv-l@utk.edu>

 

If Nabokov translated Abraham Lincoln's "The Gettysburg Address" into Russian, there might be a reason for his having introduced, in ADA a certain Abraham Milton, through his private secretary (and biographer) John Milton Hay. It would be interesting to know what copy was the one used by Nabokov for his translation.

 

 Here is some information about the issue

The five manuscripts

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Gettysburg Address

The five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address are each named for the associated person who received it from Lincoln. Lincoln gave a copy to each of his private secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay.[13] Both of these drafts were written around the time of his November 19 address, while the other three copies of the address, the Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss copies, were written by Lincoln for charitable purposes well after November 19.[39][40] In part because Lincoln provided a title and signed and dated the Bliss Copy, it has become the standard text of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.[41] Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... John George Nicolay (1832&#8211;1901) was an American (German-born) biographer. ... John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838 – July 1, 1905) was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln. ...


The two earliest drafts of the Address are associated with some confusion and controversy regarding their existence and provenance. Nicolay and Hay were appointed custodians of Lincoln's papers by Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln in 1874.[13] After appearing in facsimile in an article written by John Nicolay in 1894, the Nicolay copy was presumably among the papers passed to Hay by Nicolay's daughter Helen upon Nicolay's death in 1901. Robert Lincoln began a search for the original copy in 1908, which resulted in the discovery of a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address among the bound papers of John Hay—a copy now known as the "Hay Draft."[13] Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was the first son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Ann Todd. ... Insert non-formatted text here For the machine that sends, receives, and produces facsimiles, see fax. ...


The Hay Draft differed from the version of the Gettysburg Address published by John Nicolay in 1894 in a number of significant ways: it was written on a different type of paper, had a different number of words per line and number of lines, and contained editorial revisions in Lincoln's hand.[13]


Both the Hay and Nicolay copies of the Address are within the Library of Congress, encased in specially-designed, temperature-controlled, sealed containers with argon gas in order to protect the documents from oxidation and continued degeneration.[42] General Name, symbol, number argon, Ar, 18 Chemical series noble gases Group, period, block 18, 3, p Appearance colorless Standard atomic weight 39. ...



Nicolay Copy

The Nicolay Copy[43] is often called the "first draft" because it is believed to be the earliest copy that exists. Scholars disagree over whether the Nicolay copy was actually the reading copy Lincoln held at Gettysburg on November 19. In an 1894 article that included a facsimile of this copy, Nicolay, who had become the custodian of Lincoln's papers, wrote that Lincoln had brought to Gettysburg the first part of the speech written in ink on Executive Mansion stationery, and that he had written the second page in pencil on lined paper before the dedication on November 19.[44] Matching folds are still evident on the two pages, suggesting it could be the copy that eyewitnesses say Lincoln took from his coat pocket and read at the ceremony.[45][46] Others believe that the delivery text has been lost, because some of the words and phrases of the Nicolay copy do not match contemporary transcriptions of Lincoln's original speech.[citation needed] The words "under God", for example, are missing in this copy from the phrase "that this nation (under God) shall have a new birth of freedom…" In order for the Nicolay draft to have been the reading copy, either the contemporary transcriptions were inaccurate, or Lincoln would have had to depart from his written text in several instances. This copy of the Gettysburg Address apparently remained in John Nicolay's possession until his death in 1901, when it passed to his friend and colleague John Hay.[13] It is on permanent display as part of the American Treasures exhibition of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.[47] This page is about the official residence of the President of the USA. For other White Houses see White House (disambiguation). ...



Hay Copy

The Hay Copy, with Lincoln's handwritten corrections.

The Hay Copy, with Lincoln's handwritten corrections.

The existence of the Hay copy was first announced to the public in 1906, after the search for the "original manuscript" of the Address among the papers of John Hay brought it to light.[48] Significantly, it differs markedly from the manuscript of the Address described by John Hay in his article, and contains numerous omissions and inserts in Lincoln's own hand, including omissions critical to the basic meaning of the sentence, not simply words that would be added by Lincoln to strengthen or clarify their meaning. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x1031, 93 KB) Summary Image of the Hay Draft of the Gettysburg Address, in Abraham Lincolns handwriting, from the Library of Congress website, accessed December 16, 2005. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x1031, 93 KB) Summary Image of the Hay Draft of the Gettysburg Address, in Abraham Lincolns handwriting, from the Library of Congress website, accessed December 16, 2005. ... For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ...


This version has been described by historian Garry Wills as "the most inexplicable of the five copies Lincoln made," and is sometimes referred to as the "second draft." The "Hay Copy" was made either on the morning of the delivery of the Address, or shortly after Lincoln's return to Washington. Those that believe that it was completed on the morning of his address point to the fact that it contains certain phrases that are not in the first draft but are in the reports of the address as delivered and in subsequent copies made by Lincoln. It is probable, they conclude, that, as stated in the explanatory note accompanying the original copies of the first and second drafts in the Library of Congress, Lincoln held this second draft when he delivered the address.[49] Lincoln eventually gave this copy to his other personal secretary, John Hay, whose descendants donated both it and the Nicolay copy to the Library of Congress in 1916. Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an author and historian, and a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838 – July 1, 1905) was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln. ...

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