Details
[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, ASSASSINATION]. Ford's Theatre...Friday Evening, April 14th, 1865. Benefit! And Last Night of Miss Laura Keene...Tom Taylor's Celebrated Eccentric Comedy...entitled Our American Cousin...Patriotic Song and Chorus "Honor to our Soldiers," Washington, D.C., H. Polkinhorn & Son [14 April 1865. Folio broadside, 470 x 138mm. (18 5/8 x 5½ in.), damaged, with loss of small sections of paper and text in several places (primarily affecting several lines in list of cast members), small holes and marginal tears repaired, professionally backed for preservation, framed with two other broadside playbills: 1) Ford's Theatre, Washington,D.C.: 18 March 1865, John Wilkes Booth in The Apostate 2) Winter Garden, New York, 25 November 1865, Junius Brutus, Edwin and John Wilkes Booth in Julius Caesar.
THE PRINTED PLAYBILL FOR THE FATAL PERFORMANCE OF 'OUR AMERICAN COUSIN' ATTENDED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN
An evocative relic of Lincoln's last day. The genuine April 14th playbill for Ford's Theatre is known in two distinct issues. The first makes no mention of the patriotic song and chorus "Honor to Our Soldiers." The reason for the two issues is readily apparent. At about 11:30 a.m. a White House messenger brought news thto the theater management that Lincoln had accepted an invitation to attend that night (this news was overheard by John Wilkes Booth, who was at the theater to pick up his mail.) In Lincoln's honor, it was decided to add to the program the patriotic "Honor To Our Soldiers." The printing of the playbill was therefore halted and the standing type partially reset so as to provide space to announce this change. Copies carrying the song announcement constitute the second issue. On the fateful night, copies of both versions are known to have been in circulation among the audience. Numerous later reprints are distinguishable, some with a spurious insertion announcing the attendance of Mr. & Mrs. Lincoln. For additional details, cf. Walter C. Brenner, The Ford Theatre Lincoln Assassination Playbills (Philadelphia , 1937) and the Library of Congress Information Bulletin, 6 November 1981.
THE PRINTED PLAYBILL FOR THE FATAL PERFORMANCE OF 'OUR AMERICAN COUSIN' ATTENDED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN
An evocative relic of Lincoln's last day. The genuine April 14th playbill for Ford's Theatre is known in two distinct issues. The first makes no mention of the patriotic song and chorus "Honor to Our Soldiers." The reason for the two issues is readily apparent. At about 11:30 a.m. a White House messenger brought news thto the theater management that Lincoln had accepted an invitation to attend that night (this news was overheard by John Wilkes Booth, who was at the theater to pick up his mail.) In Lincoln's honor, it was decided to add to the program the patriotic "Honor To Our Soldiers." The printing of the playbill was therefore halted and the standing type partially reset so as to provide space to announce this change. Copies carrying the song announcement constitute the second issue. On the fateful night, copies of both versions are known to have been in circulation among the audience. Numerous later reprints are distinguishable, some with a spurious insertion announcing the attendance of Mr. & Mrs. Lincoln. For additional details, cf. Walter C. Brenner, The Ford Theatre Lincoln Assassination Playbills (Philadelphia , 1937) and the Library of Congress Information Bulletin, 6 November 1981.