LOT #61201 |
Sold on Nov 20, 2008 for: Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
John Wilkes Booth Autograph Letter Signed "J. Wilkes Booth", about one and one-fifth pages, 6.5" x 8" (penned on the fir...
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Sold on Nov 20, 2008 for:
$11,950.00
Bid Source: HA.com/Live bidder
Get one of these:
Explore Available Items
Description
John Wilkes Booth Autograph Letter Signed "J. Wilkes Booth", about one and one-fifth pages, 6.5" x 8" (penned on the first and third pages of a four-page lettersheet), "Exchange Hotel, Montgomery" [Alabama], n.d, to "Dear Miss." This letter was doubtless written in the autumn of 1860, during Booth's only engagement in Montgomery, and it displays the gallantry that was part of his legendary appeal for the fair sex. "I wish to thank you, and I do so. But thanks have in them but little worth, and nothing substantial and I know it, for thank God I am not yet a Bateman [possibly referring to an English producer who once had a run-in with Edwin Booth] and may I never be. So I wish to remunerate you, for your kind services. Yet [I] am not able to give what I should like, or what you deserve (for to use the language of the day - which I trust you will pardon - I am very hard up, my friends having - in a manner - gone back on me). So all I can do, which I assure you I am ashamed of, is to offer you this worthless token. Yet I beg you will accept it, not for its worth, but for the spirit in which it is given. And also keep it, that it may remind you I am still your debtor." He subscribes the letter "With all respect." Most of the second leaf has been irregularly torn away, near to but clear of Booth's signature; likely this was done to excise the name of the addressee, or some other compromising information. Stains and foxing, but all text is completely legible; near fine.Auction Info
2008 November The John Lattimer Collection of Lincolniana Grand Format Auction #6014 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
November, 2008
20th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 5
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 1,756
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
19.5% of the successful bid per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms