Extremely Rare Booth Autographed Letter

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Richard Sloan for sending this link.

[L Verge]

Maybe, instead of tombstones, the Surratt Society should concentrate on raising funds to obtain this. Where are very generous benefactors when you need them?

[J. Beckert]

What I also find very interesting about that letter is it references his drinking and becoming intoxicated at an early age.

[Dave Taylor]

This letter was in Dr. Lattimer's collection and was sold in the 2008 auction of his Lincoln items. The auction listing for it is here. It sold for $28,680 back then. I see the new seller is asking quite a bit more for it.

I've attached an image of the handwritten letter to this post.
   

[Rsmyth]

Laurie,
What the Surratt Society is doing in marking these unmarked graves is preserving history and probably generating interest when ever an unsuspecting passerby reads the inscriptions.

[LincolnMan]

I missed this thread when it was first started. That is an amazing letter and piece of history! Wow. Yes, it is interesting that he says he was drinking alcohol - being so young. We also see again that he is willing to become violent in the name of honor- to defend his sister. Was not that kind of thinking one of the drivers behind his killing of Lincoln? There has been much discussion about Booth possibly being mentally ill. I've often wondered if he was a sociopath, as well. He has some of the hallmarks of one- charming when needing to be- manipulative, ect. I think I read somewhere that when Wilkes was a boy he killed a cat or some cats- am I remembering correctly? I thought at the time that he may have a budding sociopath. Well, I've rambled enough.

[Laurie Verge]

Just a note that Surratt House was recently offered the opportunity to buy this letter. The price was a bit too steep for our coffers, however.

[LincolnMan]

What a great addition that would have been!

[Gene C]

But, thanks to Dave Taylor, you can have a reasonably nice facsimile, suitable for framing, at a fraction of the cost.

[Laurie Verge]

We had two other considerations besides the steep cost: First, while it is a genuine Booth letter, its content does not pertain to the assassination nor the Surratts (the primary criteria in our acquisitions process). We also had to consider conservation of the letter. Proper conservation would put it in storage for most of its life with us. There goes the audience's education.