Original 5 x 15.5 broadside for John Wilkes Booth's performance at Willard's Howard Athenaeum in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 10, [1863], which states that “Mr. J. Wilkes Booth Will appear in his Great Impersonations of Phidias and Raphael…In the Great French Play, in 4 Acts and a Prologue, entitled the Marble Heart! Or The Sculptor’s Dream.” Booth is then listed twice below for his roles in the prologue and drama: “Phidias, The Sculptor, Mr. J. Wilkes Booth” and “Raphael Duchalet, Mr. J. Wilkes Booth.” Matted and framed to an overall size of 8.5 x 20.75. In fine condition, with trimmed edges.
John Wilkes Booth, who had become a major national star only three years earlier, had already played highly successful runs in Boston. Before he assassinated Lincoln, Booth was the leading star of his time, his celebrity eclipsing many of his contemporaries. Ironically, it would be partly this celebrity that would allow Booth to enter Ford's Theatre the night of April 14, 1865, without even a second glance from the management.
