Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, ASSASSINATION]. War Department, Washington, April 20, 1865. $100,000 Reward! The Murderer of our late beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, Is Still at Large. $50,000 Reward Will be paid by the Department for his apprehension, in addition to any reward offered by Municipal Authorities or State Executives.$25,000 Reward Will be paid for the apprehension of John H. Surrat [ sic ], one of Booth's Accomplices. $25,000 Reward will be paid for the apprehension of David C. Harold [ sic ], another of Booth's Accomplice...Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from the land by the arrest and punishment of the murderers. All good citizens are exhorted to aid public justice on this occasion...[signed in type:] Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. [Washington, D.C.] 20 April 1865. Folio, 612 X 322 mm. (24 3/16 x 12 1/2 in.), slight creases where formerly folded twice horizontally and once vertically, neatly backed, small repair to blank lower corner, three later copies of carte-de-visite photographs of the assassins neatly tipped in position at top (removable without damage), otherwise a very good copy of a fragile item. Kunhardt & Kunhardt, Twenty Days , p.106; The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America, ed. J. Rhodehamel and T. F. Schwartz, 1993, p.68-69. THE FAMOUS WAR DEPARTMENT REWARD POSTER FOR BOOTH AND HIS ACCOMPLICES Possibly the most famous reward poster in American history. At the time it was circulated, only John Wilkes Booth, Herold and Suratt had been identified as part of the assassination conspiracy. Herold escaped with Booth into Maryland, and then to Virginia, where, six days after this poster was issued, they were surrounded by Union soldiers in a Virginia tobacco barn. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused to give himself up and was fatally shot. (Herold was subsequently tried, convicted and executed with the other conspirators on 6 June 1865. Suratt escaped to Europe and was only brought back to the U.S. for trial in 1867). The broadside is known in two separate printings, which are readily distinguished: First printing : Makes no provision for the mounting of photographs at the top; vertical dimension is approximately 580mm. (22 7/8 in.) In the description of Booth at the bottom, the text reads "and wears a heavy black mustache." The conspirator "Harold" is simply described as "a little, chunky man, quite a youth, and wears a very thin moustache." (A copy of this version, from the Byron Reed Collection, was sold here on 8 October 1996, lot 209, $17,000). Second printing, first issue : From an entirely new setting of type, it carries three small three-sided woodcut frames at the top, so that photographs of the conspirators might be inserted as they became available (these, some have noted, bear an uncanny resemblance to gallows trees); vertical dimension is approximately 612 mm. (24 3/16 in.). In the description of Booth, the text is the same as the first printing: "and wears a heavy, black moustouche." The physical description of "David C. Harold" is considerably more detailed than in the earlier version, here extending to three lines. A "Notice" regarding other rewards is appended at the bottom. Second printing, second issue : Identical to the first printing, first issue except the text of the Booth description reads: "and wore a heavy mustache, which there is some reason to believe has been shaved off." Some copies of the second printing of the broadside have carte-de-visite photographs attached (the copy at the Huntington has cartes of Booth and Herold, but not Surratt) while the Calvin Bullock copy, sold here in 1985, now in the FORBES Magazine Collection, has all three cartes. Most of the extant copies did not have photographs attached (and in some cases the photographs were supplied at a later date).