[BOOTH, John Wilkes (1838-1865)]. A broadside playbill for Booth's performance in the title role of Richard III at the Howard Athenæum, Boston, 10 October 1863.

17 x 5 1/4 in. printed broadside.

JOHN WILKES BOOTH IN HIS MOST FAMOUS ROLE.

Few plays were performed more often by various members of the Booth family than William Shakespeare's Richard III. The theatrical reputation of Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. was made with the role, both in England and in the United States; over time, he would come to be considered the greatest Richard of the early nineteenth century. His son John Wilkes would make his theatrical debut in the supporting role of the Earl of Richmond at Baltimore's Charles Street Theatre on 14 August 1855, a performance that went so poorly that the audience jeered at him every time he came onstage. As time went on, Booth steadily claimed ownership of the play, eventually making the title role one of his most critically acclaimed. He opened on 17 March 1862 at Mary Provost's Theatre in New York to a house so crowded that a reviewer for the New York Times was unable to find a seat. During these shows, Booth's performance became so frenzied that one night, Booth sent his co-star E.L. Tilton tumbling backwards into the orchestra pit. The Times' reviewer would write, "We cannot name a better Richard."

Another fan of the play was Abraham Lincoln, who considered it to be his favorite of Shakespeare's works. Lincoln's secretary, John Hay, recalled that Lincoln would often read aloud passages from Richard III. His love of the play was often used in Confederate propaganda to promote the narrative that Lincoln was a bloodthirsty tyrant who sought to make himself king, a talking point that Booth himself would echo in his writings about Lincoln.

Playing the Lord Mayor of London during this performance was Harry Hawk, who on 14 April 1865 played the role of Asa Trenchard in Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre. At the moment John Wilkes Booth crept into the presidential box, Hawk was the only actor left onstage, his voice the last to be heard by President Lincoln before Hawk's former co-star ended the president's life.

This lot is located in Chicago.

[BOOTH, John Wilkes (1838-1865)]. A broadside playbill for Booth's performance in the title role of Richard III at the Howard Athenæum, Boston, 10 October 1863.