The Fathers and Saviors of Our Country: A Presidential Sale

14 x 6 in. printed broadside. (Marginal losses, spotting, mounted on tissue.)

ONE OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH'S MOST FAMOUS ROLES.

The Apostate is a tragedy by the Irish playwright Richard Lalor Sheil, published in 1817. Though not a particularly popular play, it clearly struck a chord with John Wilkes Booth, as it is today the role of Duke Pescara that is considered to be one of his most notable, with his brother Edwin once writing to a friend, "I saw last night - for the first time - my brother act; he played Pescara - a bloody villain of the deepest red, you know, an admiral of the red, as t'was, and he presented him - not underdone, but rare enough for the most fastidious 'beef-eater.' Jno. Bull himself Esquire never looked more savagely at us poor mudsills..."

It was during this engagement, however, that the first cracks began to appear in Booth's potential for a long career in the theater, as his voice had begun to give out on him. In a review of his 27 April performance, the Boston Transcript wrote, "...the only drawback [is] the cold which restrains his voice." Later historians would speculate that the realization that his career may be coming to an end played a large role in his eventual decision to murder Abraham Lincoln.

The role of Pescara would be performed by John Wilkes Booth for the last time on 18 March 1865 at Ford's Theatre, as a benefit for his friend John McCullough. In the audience for this performance were Booth's fellow conspirators, John Surratt, David Herold, and George Atzerodt. Almost a year to the day after this performance at the Boston Museum, John Wilkes Booth would be shot by federal troops at Garrett's farm in Caroline County, Virginia.