[Ads-l] Bogus Lincoln quote? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Bill said:
> A few years ago, I ran across this in a review:
>
> "As President Lincoln said after witnessing a seance that his
> wife had convinced him to attend, "It's the kind of thing
> you'll like if you like that kind of thing."

An instance of this saying was discussed in "The Quote Verifier" and
"The Yale Book of Quotations". Here is part of the analysis by Keyes:

[Begin excerpt]
"For those who LIKE that sort of thing I should think it just the sort
of thing they would like." This piece of droll tact – considered by
some to be the perfect book review - is said to have been Abraham
Lincoln's response to an author's work.

. . .
Lincoln buff David Mearns concluded that it actually originated with
humorist Artemus Ward. As Mearns discovered, in late 1863 a spoofy
newspaper advertisement for Ward included this testimonial: "I have
never heard any of your lectures, but from what I can learn I should
say that for people who like the kind of lectures you deliver, they
are just the kind of lectures such people like. Yours respectfully, O.
Abe."
[End excerpt]

At this point I have not tried to double-check the 1863 citation. A
Google Snippet suggests that the claim about Artemus Ward was included
in the 1939 biographical work "Abraham Lincoln: The War Years" by Carl
Sandburg.

Bill, details of your 1870 citation would interesting, I think.
Garson


On Fri, Sep 4, 2015 at 12:53 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US)
<william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Bogus Lincoln quote? (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
>
> A few years ago, I ran across this in a review:
>
> "As President Lincoln said after witnessing a seance that his
> wife had convinced him to attend, "It's the kind of thing
> you'll like if you like that kind of thing." "
>
> I think I was able to trace it back to the 1870s, and it may=20
> have been attributed to Lincoln, but I couldn't find it in=20
> his name while he was alive.
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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