The 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s death is on April 15 next year, and to commemorate the event, the editors of Life magazine have released a book of letters, speeches and pictures that aim to give a sense of who the man was.

A selected 250 images are featured in the book, “Lincoln: An Intimate Portrait,” many of which have never before been published. 

One of the photos is of a 37-year-old Lincoln, just seven years after the introduction of photography in the U.S.

“It’s the earliest ‘authentic or certified’ photograph of Lincoln,” said Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo, on Thursday. “This has the best provenance because it was in the possession of Robert Todd Lincoln, and he identified it as the earliest photograph he had in his possession of his father. And it really does not look like the Lincoln we are accustomed to seeing on the $5 bill.”

Guelzo — who wrote a biographical essay on the president that's featured in the new book — said that though Lincoln is dressed as a young scholar in the photo, his hands tell a different story. Lincoln himself apparently said that his hands had been put to use as soon as he was able to wield an axe on the farm where he grew up.

Guelzo said Lincoln was born into a family of farmers who weren't economically, politically, socially or culturally ambitious. Lincoln, however, never seemed to fit in with the agricultural lifestyle. Instead, he embraced a life of reading, writing, and learning.

In addition to photographs, “Lincoln: An Intimate Portrait,” also contains removable replicas of speeches and letters and pictures of photographed artifacts from the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.