The great events of Lincoln's life, and impressions of his character, are given in the actual words of those who knew him--his friends, neighbors, and daily associates--rather than condensed and remolded into other form.

While these utterances are in some cases rude and unstudied, they have often a power of delineation and a graphic force that more than compensate for any lack of literary quality.
In a work prepared on such a plan as this, some repetitions are unavoidable; nor are they undesirable.

An event or incident narrated by different observers is thereby brought out with greater fulness of detail; and phases of Lincoln's many-sided character are revealed more clearly by the varied impressions of numerous witnesses whose accounts thus correct or verify each other.

Some inconsistencies and contradictions are inevitable,--but these relate usually to minor matters, seldom or never to the great essentials of Lincoln's life and personality.

The author's desire is to present material from which the reader may form an opinion of Lincoln, rather than to present opinions and judgments of his own.
Lincoln literature has increased amazingly in the past twenty-five years.