Lot Details
Lot 262
[BOOTH, JOHN WILKES] Printed volume signed and dated on title in pencil (John Wilkes Booth/Richmond/Nov 6th/59), being Wil...
("John Wilkes Booth/Richmond/Nov 6th/59"), being Wilkes' personal copy of the play A New Way to pay Old Debts by Philip Massinger, published New York: William Taylor n.d. [circa 1855-1858?]. Printed wrappers in a modern cloth folding case. 7 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches (20 x 12 cm); [1] ff., vi, [7]-75 pp. Booth's name in ink in an old hand on the front cover (not in his hand), and in another hand on the recto of the front free endpaper. The text somewhat fingersoiled, two leaves with blank corners irregularly detached, page 62 with the bold ink annotation "J. W. Booth/Bad Actor/Benson," pencil notations regarding performance throughout.
Booth spent the 1859-1860 theatre season in Richmond, Virginia, playing at the Richmond Theatre. A strong opponent of abolition, he joined the Richmond Grays, a 1,500-man volunteer militia group that traveled to Charlestown, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in order to attend the hanging of John Brown on 2 December 1859 and guard against any rescue attempts.
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