Fourscore and many years after his time, a literary hit

Books about Abraham Lincoln are reliable sellers for the publishing industry. Add in the 200th anniversary of his birth and a first fan in the form of President-elect Obama and the result is a plethora of books about the 16th president.

Born on Feb. 12, 1809, the popular former president will be the subject of at least 60 new books by the anniversary of his birth, according to Publishers Weekly.

Here’s a sampling:

• Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Michael Burlingame. This two-book set covers the life of Lincoln and will be available on Feb. 24. Johns Hopkins University Press, $125.

• The Library of Congress has selected 40 manuscripts to feature in In Lincoln’s Hand: His Original Manuscripts with Commentary by Distinguished Americans, edited by Joshua Wolf Shenk and Harold Holzer. The 208-page hardcover contains 40 high-resolution document scans and hundreds of full-color illustrations. $35.

• Abraham Lincoln: Great Historians on our Sixteenth President is presented by C-SPAN and edited by Brian Lamb and Susan Swain. The book contains essays crafted from C-SPAN interviews of 55 writers on Lincoln. Public Affairs, $27.95.

• The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Mark Epstein. This book covers the Lincolns’ marriage from its beginnings in Springfield, Ill., to his assassination. Ballantine Books, now available in paperback, $16.

• Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig Symonds, Oxford University Press, $27.95.

• The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln by Kate Clifford Larson. Surratt owned the boarding house where the conspirators met and became the first woman executed by the federal government. Basic Books, $26.

• Lincoln’s Darkest Year: The War in 1862 by William Marvel, Houghton Mifflin, $30.

• Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton, Harper, $26.99.

• What Would Lincoln Do? Lincoln’s Most Inspired Solutions to Challenging Problems and Difficult Situations by David Acord, available on Feb. 1 from Sourcebooks, $13.99.

• Abraham Lincoln by George McGovern. The former Democratic presidential nominee finds inspiration in Lincoln as part of the American Presidents series. Times Books, $22.

• The Last Lincolns: The Rise and Fall of a Great American Family by Charles Lachman examines the impact of Lincoln’s assassination on his family. Sterling/Union Square Books, $24.95.

• The Great Comeback: How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the 1860 Republican Nomination by Gary Ecelbarger. St. Martin’s/Dunne Press, $25.95.

• Abraham Lincoln, a Man of Faith and Courage: Stories of Our Most Admired President by Joe Wheeler, Howard Books, $19.99.

• Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson, Penguin Press, $35.

• Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin by David Contosta, available on April 30 from Prometheus Books, $26.95.

• Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer, Twelve Books, $30.