: A rare letter written by John Wilkes Booth broke all sorts of
records at Skinner's books and manuscripts sale this past Sunday,
November 21, when it sold for $79,900. The letter, dated February
9, 1865, written from Washington, D.C., to Orlando Tompkins of
Boston, discussed a range of minor matters including a request
for a picture of himself in a black cravat that was later used in
his wanted poster. He also noted in closing that he "will get any
letter sent to Ford's Theatre."
The letter was consigned from Boston area collectors Richard and
Kelley Gutman who bought it at Goodspeed's book shop and it sold
to the West Coast dealer Joe Maddalena of Profiles in
History. The previous record for a Booth letter was $38,000
set at Christies in 1997.
