Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

1 p.; comprised of two four-stanza lines of poetry, addressed to Miss [Mary C.] White, of Richmond, Virginia, and written in her "Forget-Me-Not Album." 8 x 6 1/4 in. (203 x 159 mm), with 24 gilt-edge leaves, title page vignette. Original hand-painted and gilt-decorated boards, small mother-of-pearl inlays, wear to cover, rubbing to corners, heavy wear to spine with near complete separation of boards; pages with scattered spotting throughout. 

Booth's poem is an acrostic, spelling "Mary" and "John," and reads in full: "May all good angels guard & bless thee. / And from thy heart remove all care. / Remember you should ne're distrest be. / Youth & hope, can crush dispare. / Joy can be found, by all who seek it. / Only be right, the path, we move upon / Heaven has marked it: Find & keep it / Ne're forget the wish of John." Booth then signs and dates his inscription "He who will ever be your friend / J. Wilkes Booth. Richmond Feb 18th 1860". The identity of Miss Mary White is uncertain, as is her connection to Booth.

At the time Booth penned these lines to Miss White, both his acting career and his antipathy towards the Northern states were gaining momentum. In September 1858, Booth joined the company of the Marshall Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, more commonly referred to as the "Richmond Theatre." He spent two seasons there, but initially remained largely in the shadow of his older brother, nationally renowned actor Edwin Booth. On 18 October 1859, news began to break of a raid by abolitionist John Brown on the federal armory at Harper's Ferry. Weeks later, on 17 November 1859, rumors began to circulate in Richmond that an attempt to rescue Brown from his Charles Town, Virginia, (present-day West Virginia), prison was imminent. On that evening, Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise received a message requesting 500 men be sent immediately to Charles Town, and in response the Governor ordered the militia to go immediately to the city's train depot which was located just opposite the Marshall Theatre. Though post-war reminiscences vary somewhat as to the manner in which it occurred, it is clear that John Wilkes Booth was on the train to Charles Town in a uniform of the Richmond Greys, a volunteer militia from that city. Unabashedly deserting his responsibilities with the Marshall Theatre, Booth remained with the Greys at Charles Town until Brown was hanged on 2 December, returning on 5 December. Booth inscribed Miss White's album just months after returning from Brown's execution.

Other signatures in the album include those of William H. Caskie ("W.H. Caskie"), an enslaver who would go on to serve as a Confederate officer; George W. Wren, a fellow actor in the Marshall Theatre Company; and most significantly, poetic lines written and signed ("S.K. Chester") by actor Samuel K. Chester (1836-1921), whom Booth later invited to join his assassination plot against Lincoln. Chester refused, and would go on to serve as a key witness for the prosecution during Booth's trial.

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California