Title	[Correspondence of Edwin Booth]
Date	1862-10-22
Contributor	Booth, Edwin
Artistic roles	Edwin Booth (Actor)
Genre	Tragedy
Theme	Dynasties
Places	Philadelphia (P.A.)
Item description	Correspondence from Edwin Booth (1833-1893) dated October 22, 1862 to Lewis Clephane Esq. (1824-1897) on the occasion of his marriage. The letter is written in ink in another hand and signed by Edwin Booth.
Object narrative	Edwin Booth (1833-1893) was born Edwin Thomas Booth, the fourth son of prominent tragic actor, Junius Brutus Booth. He was named after another great tragic actor in Booth's circle, Edwin Forrest. The next son to be born to Booth would be John Wilkes. All his life Edwin had an observant, thoughtful, melancholy disposition (Winter, Biographical Sketch 9), according to William Winter, critic and biographer of the time. In 1846, Edwin's education came to a standstill as he was called upon to act as his father's companion while he was touring. The elder Booth was not capable of staying sober or taking care of himself while away from Edwin's mother; Edwin became a soothing and loyal chaperon to his father, and also gained his father's skill in playing great tragic roles. In 1849 at the age of sixteen, he first stepped on stage to relieve the stage manager of the role of Tressel in Richard III. He continued after this to play in other small and large roles alongside his father. In 1852, Junius Brutus Booth Sr. died and Edwin continued to perform in the Western states and even toured to Australia and Hawaii with Laura Keene, but his father's penchant for hard drinking and carousing rubbed off on him. Returning East in 1856, his experience building both farcical and tragic roles over the preceding years brought him almost immediate fame and recognition. He toured extensively and married Mary Devlin in 1860, a lady with whom he was very much in love, but his drinking strained not only their marriage but also his acting career on many occasions. Only her death in 1863 brought Edwin to the bottom of the pit and the end of his drinking addiction. This letter was written in Edwin's stead by an unknown person, perhaps Mary or his sister Asia, who lived in Philadelphia. Booth signs the letter, although this signature is questionable upon comparison to other autographs. The letter was written to Lewis Clephane (1824-1897), a prominent Washington business and newspaperman who had helped establish The Republican Party in 1856. His newspaper, National Era, was anti-slavery. He had served on the nominating committee that helped Abraham Lincoln to his first election as President in 1860, and was postmaster of the city of Washington in 1862 at the time of his marriage. It reads: I regret exceedingly that I am compelled to deprive myself of the pleasure of calling in person and offering my congratulations to yourself and bride; business detains me at the office. Permit me to tender through this medium, my congratulations and sincere wishes for long life and happiness. Very Truly, your friend Edwin Booth Phila. October 22nd 1862. Lewis Clephane Esq.
Type	Text
Original format	Correspondence
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language	en
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	MSS255 Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection
Series/grouping	6.1: Correspondence and Autographs -- Correspondence
Box	79
Finding aid link	http://library.uncg.edu/info/depts/scua/collections/manuscripts/ead/mss255.xml
Preferred citation	[Identification of item], Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection, 1753-2006 (MSS255), Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
Rights statement	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Additional rights information	NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determing actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID	MSS255.B79.026
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304
OCLC number	872280799

[Correspondence of Edwin Booth]

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