February 16, 2012
SLIDESHOW: A tower of 6,800 Abraham Lincoln books
by Paul Oliver
Located in the foyer of Washington, D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership, the towering sculpture is composed of the man biographies, histories and memoirs associated with Abraham Lincoln.
Of the 15,000 or so titles published about the 16th President of the United States somewhere around 6,800 are used in the 34 foot sculpture.
Taking the 15,000 figure into account, there have been slightly over 102 books written about Lincoln every year since his death.
102 books a year… This is the sort of thing to take into account when thinking about writing a biography of Lincoln.
The tower is one part of a 60-million dollar project to create a four-building campus for visitors to learn about the 16th president.
Paul Oliver is the marketing manager of Melville House. Previously he was co-owner of Wolfgang Books in Philadelphia.