17 Rare Photos of Lincoln Before the Beard

Most of us grew up assuming Abraham Lincoln must have had his iconic beard his whole life.  However, the truth is he didn't start growing it out until late 1860, and then it became a permanent fixture for the remaining years of his life.  The following rare photos show what the young lawyer and statesman looked like without his beard.

This 1846 daguerreotype is the earliest confirmed photographic image of Abraham Lincoln. It was reportedly made in 1846 by Nicholas H. Shepherd in Springfield, Illinois shortly after Lincoln was elected to the United States House of Representatives.  He was certainly a dapper young man!

Do you have any photos of yourself where it appears as though you are completely uninterested?  This October 27, 1854 photo was taken by a George Schneider in his mobile photo gallery in Chicago after he had attended a dinner with Mr. Lincoln.  The photo was submitted to a prominent anti-slavery magazine.

This is absolutely our favorite picture of Lincoln.  H.W. Fay of DeKalb, Illinois, the original owner of the photo, shared about it:  "I have a letter from Mr. Hesler stating that [Lincoln] came in and made arrangements for the sitting, so that the members of the bar could get prints. Lincoln said at the time that he did not know why the boys wanted such a homely face. Joseph Medill went with Mr. Lincoln to have the picture taken. He says that the photographer insisted on smoothing down Lincoln's hair, but Lincoln did not like the result, and ran his fingers through it before sitting."  This photo was taken February 28, 1857.

Although some historians have dated this photograph during the court session of November 13, 1859, and others have placed it as early as 1853, most authorities now believe it was taken on May 27, 1857. The photographer Amon T. Joslin owned "Joslin's Gallery" located on the second floor of a building adjoining the Woodbury Drug Store, in Danville, IL. This was one of Lincoln's favorite stopping places in Vermilion County, Illinois, while he was a traveling lawyer.  You can see that Lincoln was at ease on this day. 

This 1858 photo was among Lincoln's favorites.  He liked it so much that he had many copies made and even used it for most of his upcoming Presidential Campaign posters and ribbons.  

There is a funny story behind this 1858 photo:  "One morning I was in the gallery of Mr. Alschuler, when Mr. Lincoln came into the room and said he had been informed that he (Alschuler) wished him to sit for a picture. Alschuler said he had sent such a message to Mr. Lincoln, but he could not take the picture in that coat (referring to a linen duster in which Mr. Lincoln was clad), and asked if he had not a dark coat in which he could sit. Mr. Lincoln said he had not; that this was the only coat he had brought with him from his home. Alschuler said he could wear his coat, and gave it to Mr. Lincoln, who pulled off the duster and put on the artist's coat. Alschuler was a very short man, with short arms, but with a body nearly as large as the body of Mr. Lincoln. The arms of the latter extended through the sleeves of the coat of Alschuler a quarter of a yard, making him quite ludicrous, at which he (Lincoln) laughed immoderately, and sat down for the picture to be taken with an effort at being sober enough for the occasion. The lips in the picture show this."  — Mr. J. O. Cunningham, present when the picture was taken

Of this late 1858 photo, Lincoln would say:  "This is not a very good-looking picture, but it's the best that could be produced from the poor subject."

A serious look from October, 1858.

This photo was taken during the height of the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates on October 11, 1858 in Quincy, Illinois.

Lincoln sat for this portrait at the gallery of Cooke and Fassett in Chicago on October 4, 1859. Cooke wrote in 1865 "Mrs. Lincoln pronounced [it] the best likeness she had ever seen of her husband." We think he looks a little solemn, however!

This was a happy day for Lincoln.  It was in early 1860, just after he had won his party's nomination for President. 

Hesler took a total of four portraits at this sitting on June 30, 1860. Lincoln's law partner William Herndon wrote of this picture: "There is the peculiar curve of the lower lip, the lone mole on the right cheek, and a pose of the head so essentially Lincolnian; no other artist has ever caught it."

Here's another angle from the same sitting.  Lincoln would say of it:  "That looks better and expresses me better than any I have ever seen; if it pleases the people I am satisfied.

August 13, 1860 - The last beardless photograph of Lincoln. John M. Read commissioned Philadelphia artist John Henry Brown to paint a good-looking miniature of Lincoln "whether or not the subject justified it". This ambrotype is one of six taken on Monday, August 13, 1860 in Butler's daguerreotype studio (of which only two survive), made for the portrait painter.  A few months later, the first photos would emerge of Lincoln with a fledgling, scraggly beard!

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