Description
Limited edition of I Saw Booth Shoot Lincoln by William Jason Ferguson, published in 1930.
Octavo, [6], 63pp. Black cloth, title printed on red labels affixed to spine. Limitation of 1000 copies stated on copyright page. Red topstain. Complete with frontispiece portrait of Lincoln and 8 full page illustrations. In the publisher’s scarce dust jacket, $2.50 on front flap, archival tape repair to verso, closed tear with tape repair on verso, light soiling to spine, a near fine example. (Monaghan, 3181)
W. J. Ferguson was a young actor at Ford’s Theater on the night of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865. At just 18 years old, Ferguson was working as a call boy and understudy at the theater. He witnessed John Wilkes Booth shoot President Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin. Ferguson later provided a detailed account of the assassination, describing the chaos that ensued in the theater and Booth’s dramatic escape.