Like many booksellers across the country, the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago is hosting a special event in February to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. But this store, which specializes in new and antiquarian books about our 16th president's life and times, is doing a little something different, something with a touch of romance. They are hosting a “virtual author” discussion and signing, featuring Ronald White, author of A. Lincoln: A Biography (Random House), and Catherine Clinton, author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life (Harper) on Saturday, Feb. 14, Valentine's Day.

“It's really a Lincoln birthday event, but it happens to be a lovefest between Mary Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln,” Daniel Weinberg, the store's proprietor said, explaining that he has asked each author to discuss the subject of the other's biography through his or her own subject's eyes.

While the event will be held in the store, it will also be streamed live on the Internet, at www. virtualbooksigning.net the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop's high-tech method allowing store patrons from all over the world to attend events in real time in the store. Launched little more than three years ago, participants can interact with the author via e-mail, order a book, and watch it on their computer screen being signed by the author in the store. The book is later shipped to the patron. An average of 75-100 persons participate in the author event live via computer, with up to 4,500 more accessing the archived author event within a month.