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Period circa 1865 reprint of a playbill for the performance 'Our American Cousin' at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, 6 x 18.5, reading, in part: "Ford's Theatre…Friday Evening, April 14th, 1865. This Evening The Performance will be honored by the presence of President Lincoln." It goes on to list the cast and bills it as the last night of Miss Laura Keene. A contemporary hand has annotated the right side in ink, "During this evening's performance, Abraham Lincoln was murdered." Mounted to a slightly larger fabric backing sheet and in very good condition, with dampstaining to the lower portion, areas of paper loss, and the central horizontal fold fully separated. In the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination, mourners and collectors clamored for anything associated with that fateful day. Capitalizing on this newfound demand, several contemporary reprints of the Ford's Theatre playbill for Our American Cousin were created. In this case, a charlatan printer added a line not seen on the originals: "This Evening: The Performance will be honored by the presence of President Lincoln."
