The Fathers and Saviors of Our Country: A Presidential Sale

2 partial pages, recto and verso (108 x 127 mm), old center fold, minor losses, soiling, mounted on rice paper, docketed "J. Wilkes Booth / Feb. 9/64 / Ans. February 17 copie[d]" in a different hand at upper right corner verso.

In full: "...it, but in the letter he said 'let us make the engagement for two weeks. Each of us keeping the two or four following weeks open that we may continue it, if [illegible]... I answered 'all right' but suppose we say for four (4) weeks sure (as I played there that lone..." On the verso reads: "P.S. My proposition was [to] open April 25th from six weeks on old terms, four weeks [illegible] and for each of us to keep the two following (the 5th and 6th [illegible]) open to continue on, if it paid us [illegible]..."

Through the first half of February 1864, John Wilkes Booth performed at the Nashville Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee, in various roles, including Iago, Pescara, and Hamlet, with his last performance on February 13. A reviewer wrote in the Nashville Daily Union on February 12 (Abraham Lincoln's birthday), "[He] came amongst us as a stranger, his reputation as a rising star preceded him, creating a general desire amongst our playgoers to get a 'taste of his quality'...Nobly did he fulfill expectations, and establish himself as a favorite. Every succeeding performance has been but a repetition of his successes. In no part has he failed. His genius appears equal to anything the tragic muse has produced; and the time is not distant when he will attain his highest professional fame. His engagement here will not soon be forgotten by any who have attended the Theatre." The present letter is dated February 9, on which day Booth performed as Richard III.