Search Results: john wilkes booth

One page. Beautifully presented in a spectacular 19th-century carved wood frame with surmounted eagle. Abraham Lincoln, writing at the outset of the Civil War, recommends that the Army admit three volunteers from the highly divided city of Baltimore. He advises Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, "I hate to reject any [volunteers] offered from what is called a Southern State."Maryland's Southern sympathies were of paramount concern to Lincoln. On February 23, 1861, learning of a rumored assassination plot, president-elect Lincoln passed through Baltimore in secrecy to reach Washington. On April 19, 1861, just a week after the surrender of Fort Sumter, a mob killed four soldiers and wounded thirty-six more when the 6th Massachusetts Infantry passed through Baltimore en route to Washington. A week later Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus to maintain control in the state. Maryland's governor had ordered the militia to burn railroad bridges north of the city to prevent more federal troops from… Read More

Montauk, Montauk Navy Yard, Wash D.C., 1865. 4pp. 8vo. Slight soiling and minor tears along old folds, otherwise in very good condition. 4pp. 8vo. The Surgeon of the 'Montauk' Gives an Eye-Witnesses Account. ...About 10:25 P.M. a man came in and walked slowly along the side ... A remarkably clear and dramatic eyewitness account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln from a naval surgeon who was close to the President's box at Ford's theater on that fateful night of April 14, 1865. In this letter to his brother written the night after the assassination, while the details were still fresh in his memory, Dr. George B. Todd, surgeon aboard the U.S. "Montauk" at anchor in the Navy Yard that day, recounts the terrible event with a clarity of observation one might expect of his profession - a rarity among confused eyewitness accounts. The text of Todd's letter - one of only 7 eyewitness accounts written within 24 hours of the assassination - reads: "The few hours that have intervened since that most… Read More

Washington, D.C.: War Department, Adjutant General's Office, 1864-1869. Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, the country's greatest moral, cultural, constitutional, and political crisis, and in doing so preserved the Union of the United States of America, abolished slavery, and strengthened the federal government. Lincoln ran for President in 1860, sweeping the North in victory. The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office in March 1861. War began in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, just over a month after Lincoln's inauguration and, after years of deadly military conflict, officially ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of… Read More

11/04/1865. Abraham Lincoln For generations in a private collection and not known to have survivedhttps://vimeo.com/913105879?share=copy On April 9, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was paying a visit to Secretary of State William H. Seward when Secretary of War Edwin Stanton burst in with the news: Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army earlier that day, essentially ending the bloodiest conflict in American history.The following morning, April 10, after Stanton jolted the region awake with a 500-gun salute at dawn, the populace of Washington, D.C. took to the streets in celebration. A crowd of several thousand gathered outside the White House, clamoring for the President before he finally appeared in the second-story window to acknowledge their presence. Revealing that he planned to formally address the occasion in due time, Lincoln noted that he was particularly fond of the song ""Dixie,"" the anthem of the South, and asked the band assembled to… Read More

Springfield, IL, 1849. Rare autograph letter signed by and entirely in the hand of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. One page, the letter reads in full, "Springfield May 7, 1849 Hon G. W. Rives Dear Sir, You overrate my capacity to serve you. Not one man recommended by me has yet been appointed to any thing, little or big, except a few who had no opposition. Besides this, at the very inauguration I commenced trying to get a Min[n]esota appointment for Dr. Henry, and have not yet succeeded; and I would not now, lessen his chance, by recommending any living man for any thing in that Territory. It is my recollection that you sent me an application to be P.M. at Paris. Am I mistaken? Very truly yours A. Lincoln." Over a decade prior to his election as the 16th President of the United States in 1861, Lincoln served a single term in the House of Representatives between 1847 and 1849. A self-professed 'old line Whig', he was assigned to the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and… Read More

April 21, 1864. American naval commission signed by Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and Gideon Welles as Secretary of the Navy. Folio, partially engraved on vellum the document is dated April 21, 1864 and promotes Charles W. Tracy to the rank of Lieutenant. In near fine condition. Matted and framed with a portrait of Lincoln and engraved plate. The Commission measures 19 inches by 16 inches. The entire piece measures 34 inches by 29.5 inches. Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, the country's greatest moral, cultural, constitutional, and political crisis, and in doing so preserved the Union of the United States of America, abolished slavery, and strengthened the federal government. Lincoln ran for President in 1860, sweeping the North in victory. The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented… Read More

15/01/1868. Andrew Johnson The state’s action is cited as “Relating to withdrawing the assent of the State of Ohio from the proposed XIV constitutional amendment”; the ratification of Ohio is then “withdrawn and refused.” We've never seen anything like this on the market, in which a state withdraws its ratification of an amendment to the U.S. ConstitutionThe proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution would add four separate provisions to it. First, the amendment declared that all people born or naturalized in the United States were citizens of the nation and individual states could not deny U.S. citizens their ""life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."" States also had to provide all citizens with ""equal protection of the laws."" Second, population within a state, excluding Native Americans and any male citizens who had participated in the rebellion against the United States government, would determine a state's representation in the United States… Read More

[N.p., but almost certainly Springfield, Il, ca. May 3, 1865].. Broadside, 12 x 9 inches. Printed in three columns, edged with a printed black border. Old folds, center vertical fold with some separation. Moderate staining. Still, very good. Framed. Likely a proof copy of the exceedingly rare broadside announcing the funeral procession for President Abraham Lincoln in Springfield in early May 1865. Struck down by assassin John Wilkes Booth on April 15, 1865, Lincoln's body lay in state in the White House on April 18, and a ceremonial funeral service took place in Washington, D.C. around noon on April 19. Two days later, President Lincoln's casket was loaded on a funeral train headed for Springfield, Illinois, stopping at Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Michigan City, and Chicago before arriving in Lincoln's adopted hometown early on the morning of May 3. At this time, Springfield's population numbered around 15,000, but Lincoln's… Read More

Washington, D.C., April 11, 1865.. Broadside, 13 x 8 1/4 inches. Faint dust-soiling, minor edge wear, with a few short marginal tears repaired on verso. Very good. A rare first broadside printing announcing two of President Lincoln's three final proclamations, "Closing Certain Ports" and "Port of Key West to Remain Open," both issued on April 11, 1865. President Lincoln issued these proclamations just three days before he was cut down by assassin John Wilkes Booth. Both proclamations are signed in type by Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward. The first proclamation, "Closing Certain Ports," shut down a large number of Confederate ports, all listed on the proclamation, and indicates that "all rights of importation, warehousing, and other privileges, shall, in respect to the ports aforesaid, cease until they have again been opened by order of the President; and if, while said ports are closed, any ship or vessel from beyond the United States, or having on board any articles subject to… Read More

15/04/1865. Abraham Lincoln The Assassination:Abraham Lincoln continues to stand as America’s most beloved President. Of our nation’s historical icons, Lincoln is the quintessential embodiment of American possibility in his mythic-like rise from rail-splitter to Chief Executive and Emancipator of the oppressed. The admiration felt by Americans for Lincoln’s humble integrity, his performance in office, his noble statesmanship, and his keen sense of justice, is enduring. Lincoln is not given the highest marks just for character, but for the transformation of the nation that he left behind, which was both profound and long-lasting.Polls of historians generally show their belief that Lincoln faced the hardest job of any president. He had to define the issues, inspire the people, be steadfast in the face of losses, win the Civil War, free the slaves, and lay the groundwork to reunite the nation. All that in the face of determined opposition. He accomplished all this in four years, but was… Read More

Civil War Era CDV Album with 120 Images--Lincoln, Assassination Chair, Booth, Confederate Officers, Belle Boyd, McClellan, Grant, Garfield, Many More Commercial album. Binding is mostly expired and leaves either loose of becoming loose. Padded leather boards with extensive wear. Believed to be complete with fifteen leaves. Contains 120 CDV photographs. Several have been trimmed but most in very good condition. Inspect scans carefully for condition. Metal clasp still functional. Sold as is. Remarkable collection of Civil War era CDV's including 20 Confederate subjects including spy Belle Boyd. Set also includes John Wilkes Booth and several of his associates, plus a CDV of the chair in which Lincoln was sitting in Ford's Theater. Many Union soldiers represented. 26 assorted CDV's at back including period actors and authors. A full database of subjects, photographer (if known), miscellaneous notes and condition available upon request. Among the CDV's are those of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson,… Read More

Massachusetts, 1885. Hardcover. Good. Quarto measuring 11" x 12". Black leather album. Contains 118 albumen photographs measuring around 5" x 8" with some captions. Good only album with detached but present front and rear boards, chips, tears, and waviness to the pages with very good photographs with some waviness. A photo album compiled in the late 1880s dated around 1885 and 1886 by the family of actor Lawrence Barrett. The photos are well-composed and show fashionably dressed friends and family posed outside the Barrett home and animals owned by the family including horses and cows. One photo of a family friend posed on a horse is an unidentified Civil War general. The Barrett summer home, later called "The Oaks" in Cohasset, Massachusetts is seen here with interior shots of the home included here, many of the walls include portraits of Barrett in various costume. Lawrence is photographed on a porch with his daughters, one of whom was the mother of actress, Edith Barrett. The Barrett's… Read More

[Boston]: (S.n.), 1862. Broadside. 6 1/8" x 14 5/8. Fine. Very faint dampstains at a couple of corners. Evidence of a few horizontal folds, and along with a couple of edge chips up to .25" depth. Remarkably well-preserved example of an important Booth playbill.. John Wilkes Booth, following in his father's and siblings' footsteps, tried his hand at acting and found some success in stock companies in Philadelphia, Richmond, and other provincial theaters. Still, he performed under the name "J. Wilkes" because he lacked the confidence to adopt the famous family name on stage, and was also not certain he wanted a career in acting. By early 1862 he decided he did, and made his national debut in New York in March. He selected the role of Richard III to showcase the revolutionary and all-consuming physical acting style destined to make him famous apart from his father's name. The buzz he created in New York produced great curiosity for his debut in Boston a few weeks later.… Read More

CAMDEN NEW JERSEY NJ. Good. 1871. On offer are the original, historical manuscript diaries handwritten by Judge Charles Preston Stratton of Camden, New Jersey. Dated 1871 and 1877 there are entries for nearly every day. Stratton was a well known as a lawyer and a judge and he proves to be a super diarist with many amazing entries of local and national interest: his wheeling and dealing with well known politicians, remarks about cases he was involved with, lobbying and lobbyists, speaking at Princeton, his alma mater at Princeton, an outbreak of small pox, the Great Chicago Fire, the hanging of a man who murdered his own father, the Railroad Riots of '77 and much, much more about the railroad business which he was heavily involved in. Much more so; we find in him an astute writer and observer but also a devoted father and family man and these diaries make for a very complete picture of the man and his times. Researchers and collectors of New Jersey Americana will be hard pressed to… Read More

Boston: F.A. Searle Printer, [1863].. Broadside, 13¼ x 4¾ inches. Old folds, minor edge wear, light scattered foxing. Near fine. A handsome broadside advertising John Wilkes Booth as the lead in two Shakespeare productions to be performed at the Boston Museum in February, 1863. Booth played Shylock in MERCHANT OF VENICE and then Petruchio in KATHARINE & PETRUCHIO (a reworking of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW), two of the most memorable roles in the canon of the Bard. In addition to the two Shakespeare productions, Booth is also advertised as performing as both conjoined twins Louis and Fabian in a Saturday afternoon production of CORSICAN BROTHERS, a play based on a novella by Alexandre Dumas. John Wilkes Booth must have learned much about revenge from his portrayal of Shylock. The character is one of Shakespeare's most complex characters, and his famous soliloquy about revenge echoes loudly, if one replaces the word "Jew" with the word "Confederate:" "To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,… Read More

Salt Lake City, UT: Sun Classic Pictures, Inc, 1977. Original second draft shooting script with color rewrite pages for the film The Lincoln Conspiracy, originally titled Conspiracy to Kill President Lincoln written by Jonathan Cobbler (though not credited as such here), based on the book by David W. Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr., starring Bradford Dillman as President Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth. This was Dillman’s working script with his extensive notations throughout, a 5” x 7” black & white glossy photo laid in of Dillman in character as Booth - posed in the style of a portrait of the times, and with photocopies of photographs of the real Booth affixed to the inner front and rear covers. With Dillman’s estate stamp which reads, “From the Library of Bradford Dillman” and a single page typed crew list laid in. Bradbound, 117 pages, dated February 1, 1977 on the title page, with a U.S. release date of October, 1977. Near fine bright copy with some minor handling,… Read More

Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House, 1883. 293 pp. Original blue cloth stamped in gilt and blind. CONDITION: Minor edge wear, spine ends a bit frayed, adhesive remnants on spine from removed shelf label. Front hinge just starting. Mild even toning to textblock, small ink stamp on first page of Preface, short repaired tear to Introduction leaf. Overall, a bright copy in very good plus condition, much nicer than usually seen. A rare regimental history of the exploits of an African-American Civil War unit, composed largely of freedmen from Tennessee and commanded by officers mainly from Ohio.  Initially, the name of the regiment was the First Tennessee Infantry (African Descent), but was changed to the 59th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry in March, 1864. The regiment saw most of their action in the Volunteer State, often against Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate forces. Cowden's work consists of a history of the war from the first ordinance of secession through the muster-out of… Read More

New York: The Spirit of the Times, 1852. Hardcover. Very Good. Folio (12 ½" x 18"). 622, [2]pp., with an index at the back. Contains a continuous run of 52 weekly issues (12 pages each): Vol. 22, Nos. 1-52: February 21, 1852 to February 12, 1853. Bound in modern brown cloth over boards, leather spine label lettered in gold, modern wove endpapers, with an 1894 "Jockey Club" bookplate on each front pastedown. Endpapers lightly foxed, intermittent modest toning, very good or better. A scarce, handsomely bound volume of this important sporting newspaper. Founded and edited by William Trotter Porter, *Spirit of the Times* "aimed for an audience of sportsmen rather than sporting men, at a time when the former was identified with high-toned values and the latter described the whoring, street-fighting, and blood-sport inclinations of Bowery denizens." [Baseball historian John Thorn]. This 1852-53 volume of the newspaper features entertaining and informative accounts of horse racing and all manner of… Read More

New Hampshire. Good. 1874. On offer are two unique little pocket diaries from the mid-19th century. They both are slim, hardcover diaries measuring 6.5 inches by 3 inches. They both have 52 pages arranged in a week-on-two-pages layout. The first is about 10% complete and the second is about 20% complete. Both also have a number of memoranda and cash account pages with many entries. They are both in good condition. These diaries were the property of Joseph Starr Haines. Haines was born in Sacramento CA in 1852. He began his career as a teacher but later became a lawyer. After practicing law for several years, he moved to Iowa where he raised cattle. He never married. Haines passed away in 1936. Casual research has not turned up any additional biographical information. Both diaries have only a few entries. The value however lies in the references to other people that he makes in his entries, especially the pages of entries in the Memoranda sections. These are particularly interesting as… Read More

Philadelphia, (PA): J.L. Magee, 1865. First edition. Lithograph in black-and-white, 12 1/2 x 17 inches (image size: 8 5/8 x 12 1/2 inches), "an image of John Wilkes Booth seen falling into a fire in a barn. He holds a gun in his proper right hand, his proper left leg bandaged and his crutches and a knife fall to the ground. A man at left stands at the barn door, while a group of soldiers outside the barn look in, one pointing a gun at Booth" (OCLC). Magee also published the famous print "Death Bed of Abraham Lincoln." OCLC locates one copy (American Antiquarian Society); copies are also at the Library of Congress and the Huntington Library. Margins a little browned, but very good, light creases from folding. Matted, glazed, and framed. (#6283).