BOOTH, John Wilkes (1838-1865). Autograph letter signed ("J.W.B") to "My dear miss" from the St. Charles Theater, New Orleans, 4 April [1864].

2pp., 8vo (203 x 152 mm), signed on integral leaf, old folds, minor toning.

In full: "I rec'd yours yesterday, but was kept (by business) from answering till now. I have come to the conclusion that a noncompliance with your request would be a crime, especially if my not refusing will afford you the pleasure you mention. I therefore enclose (with my best wishes for your future) a picture of my humble self. I start next Saturday for Boston. With all respect I remain yours to command."

At this point in his career, already an acclaimed actor, John Wilkes Booth was also considered a "matinee idol," with his physical attractiveness noted in numerous memoirs by fellow performers, including Kate Reignolds, Anne Gilbert, and Jeannie Gourlay. In her memoir, Life on the Stage, Clara Morris recalls an instance in which she came across Booth seated before a fire, carefully tearing away signatures from the scented letters received during a show and casting them into the flames, remarking as he did that "their sting lies in the tail." Unbeknownst to many, during Booth's 1864 New Orleans engagement, he met George Miller, a Confederate spy who, though not proven, is said to have introduced Booth to various figures in the Confederate Secret Service. An acquaintance of Booth's during his New Orleans days remembered that "Booth drank a great deal in those days...Usually, even in his cups, he was an affable, considerate, courteous companion; but sometimes, when he had imbibed more than his custom his mind was haunted by strange ideas--particularly, the notion that he was the victim of conspiracies (The Golden Age of New Orleans Theater, p.499).

He arrived in Boston a few weeks later to begin the last engagement of his career, where he would meet a sixteen-year-old by the name of Isabel Sumner, with whom he would become smitten and engage in the most detailed of any of his surviving romantic correspondences.

REFERENCES:
"Right or Wrong, God Judge Me:" The Writings of John Wilkes Booth, pp.104-105

This lot is located in Chicago.