Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln by Tom Fleming, 1908

This engraving is the frontispiece of Tom  Fleming's 1913 book The Capital. Fleming describes it in the caption this  way:

“This portrait of Abraham Lincoln was drawn by the author in one single, continuous line from centre to circumference, and is considered unique among the rare engravings of the world. It is after the manner of the "Head of Christ" engraved in 1649, by Claude Melan, and which at the time was deemed inimitable. ”

T. Fleming  1908,

Copyright 1909 by T.  Fleming

 Later in his book, in a discussion of the art of engraving and printing money, Fleming remarks:

“For one engraver to make an engraving on a banknote that another engraver could not imitate would seem to be almost an impossibility. It has been suggested to the author that a portrait engraved after the manner of his Lincoln single-line portrait printed as the frontispiece of this book would be uncounterfeitable by any engraver in the world. If the reader will kindly examine this engraving with a magnifying glass he will soon perceive what the artist knows to be a fact—that it is inimitable.”

The Lincoln Foundation describes this portrait and its antecedents:

“This unusual print features a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln and the handwritten text of his Gettysburg Address all ‘formed in one continuous line from center to circumference.’ The portrait was formed with varying dark and light shading of the concentric circles with the starting point on Lincoln's nose. The portrait was done from a photograph taken of Lincoln in Washington, D. C., on November 8, 1863, about ten days before he gave his speech at the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863. When the portrait was finished the artist continued without lifting his pen to write the text of Lincoln's speech. He wrote the first line from left to right and continued to the second line which he wrote right to left so that he didn't have to lift his pen and so on continuing the pattern to the end of the text and the facsimile signature. The artist's name and date are written just outside the main circle near Lincoln's left shoulder. Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum.”

Four score and seven years ago...

Abraham Lincoln

The photo after which Fleming's portrait is copied seems to be this Alexander Gardner photo taken in November of 1863.

Library of Congress

 Lord Henfield produced this colourised version of Gardner's photo:

Copyright Lord Henfield, 2013

As Fleming pointed out, the inimitable single-line engraving technique employed in his portrait of Lincoln was pioneered by Claude Mellan in 1649.  Here's Mellan's “The Sudarium of Saint Veronica” of 1649:

Formatur Unicus Una,

Non Alter

Mellan G. P. et F. 

in ædibus reg.

1649

The Art Institute of Chicago says:

“This virtuoso print replicates the cloth that Saint Veronica used to wipe Christ’s face on the way to his death. The cloth is called a sudarium, a contact relic containing the print-like impression of the savior’s face. Claude Mellan engraved Christ’s portrait in one seemingly unbroken line; the spiral from the center of his nose swirls outward to delineate the fabric. The artist’s way of approaching the swelling engraved line, produced with increased burin pressure, lends the image an abstract quality.”