Notes on Booth's Diary

[Dave Taylor]

Alrighty campers, here's how the diary plays out:

Previous to the "title" page of the diary there are 2 leaves that have been removed. You can see these on this photograph.

The bulk of the missing pages are contained between the last page of Tide and Sun rise/set data, and the page where Booth starts his writing. This spread consists of 27 leaves, which have been removed. You can see this mass of removed pages in this photograph.

After those missing pages, there are a few missing calendar pages here and there:
1 leaf which contained the printed dates of Sunday July 17th - Friday, July 22nd.
2 leaves which contained the printed dates of Monday, August 22nd - Friday, September 2nd
1 leaf which contained the printed dates of Thursday, December 8th - Tuesday, December 13th

After the end of the calendar are a few "Memoranda" pages followed by two "Cash Account" pages for each month. There are a few missing pages in this area:
3 leaves between the existing Memoranda pages and the January "Cash Account" page. These leaves and their six pages mostly likely consisted of five more memoranda pages with the last page being the first of the two January Cash Account pages.
1 leaf which consisted of the second February Cash Account page and the first March Cash Account page
1 leaf which consisted of the second April Cash Account page and the first May Cash Account page.
The top fifth of the leaf containing the second May Cash Account page and first June Cash Account page has been ripped off
1 leaf which consisted of the second August Cash Account page and the first September Cash Account page

At the very end of the diary, after the Cash Account pages for each month, there is one page for a "Summary of Cash Accounts". After this are the remaining missing pages:
1 leaf which, from the stub that remains, consisted of an additional "Summary of Cash Accounts" page and then an unknown page.
2 leaves following the above leaf. It is unknown what, if anything was printed on these pages.
The next leaf is torn in half horizontally, with the top half of the leaf still attached to the binding.
1 leaf, the final leaf of the diary is missing.

Wrapping it all up:
The original diary consisted of 95 leaves which equaled 190 pages.
A total of 43 leaves are missing from the diary which equals 86 pages.
In addition, 1/5 of one leaf and 1/2 of another leaf have also been torn out.

The reason I know all of this, is because I worked with an Italian replica prop maker named Pasquale Marsella to help him create the most exact copies of Booth's diaries around. You can see Pasquale's work on my site:
http://boothiebarn.com/2013/04/30/i-have-a-booth-diary/
http://boothiebarn.com/2013/03/29/update...-for-sale/

[Gene C]

Your making me feel a little uncomfortable about the Booth diary pages I bough at the flea market last year from that sweet little old lady, even though I got her to come down on her price from $750 to $6.75

[RJNorton]

Many thanks, Dave!! I got the number 86 from Ed Steers' Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated with Our Greatest President. Your summary agrees with Ed.

[Jim Garrett]

BREAKING NEWS!!!! 86 pages of a diary have been found in the attic..............