I Saw Booth Shoot Lincoln
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1930. First printing. Black and white plates. Cloth over boards. Octavo. [vi], 63 pages. Fine in near fine dust jacket. Bound in black cloth over boards with red paper title labels printed in black on spine and upper board. maroon topstain. Price-clipped jacket has some mild age-toning and a short horizontal closed tear to spine.
William Ferguson, a native of Baltimore and family friend of John T. Ford, was working as a call-boy at Ford's Theatre the night of April 14, 1865. He was called upon to play in a short scene in "Our American Cousin" that night when one of the regular actors failed to show up. This placed him in a position to witness the shooting of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, which he recounts here.
In addition to eyewitness testimony, Ferguson offers interesting comments on Booth's preparations at the theatre on the day of the assassination, the theory that Booth shot himself at the Garrett farm, and the portrayal of the Lincoln assassination in early motion pictures. Ferguson became an actor, performing on stage and in silent films.
This is one of a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Quite scarce in original dust jacket.
Ref. MONAGHAN #3181.
Item #1093
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