Erudite Lincoln?

Young Lincoln Reading

Looking round about the internet, I stumbled upon this book, Wit and Humor Of Abraham Lincoln, Gathered from Authentic Sources, by Carleton B. Case (Chicago: Shrewesbury Publishing Co., 1916; pp. 7-50), and I found this statement on Lincoln's early reading:

The books which Abraham had the early privilege of reading were the Bible, much of which he could repeat, "Æsop's Fables," all of which he could repeat, "Pilgrim's Progress," Weem's "Life of Washington," and a "Life of Henry Clay," which his mother had managed to purchase for him. Subsequently he read the "Life of Franklin" and Ramsay's "Life of Washington." In these books, read and re-read, he found meat for his hungry mind. The Holy Bible, Æsop and John Bunyan — could three better books have been chosen for him from the richest library?

The writer of this book tends toward hero worship, so this source might not be as authentic as proclaimed. I notice that Lincoln read Life of Franklin. What a coincidence!