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Charles Guiteau

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:14,000.00 - 16,000.00 USD
Charles Guiteau

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Auction Date:2016 Aug 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Remarkable archive related to the publication of Guiteau’s 1882 book The Truth and The Removal, consisting of an ALS by Guiteau, seven pages from the manuscript in his hand, and six letters written to Guiteau by admirers after the assassination. The two-page ALS is addressed to the printer, “Gibson Bros.,” no date but circa March 1882, in part: “This book seems to linger. I wish you send me all the proof Monday. I have advertised the book [in] to nights 'Star,' & it is important to get it out at once. I have asked you about the following matter. 1. I sent a paragraph to close Part II, but have had no proof. Have you got it? 2. I sent you a sketch, two months ago, headed 'Away with Corkhill & the experts' Have you got it? 3. I sent you a newspaper slip from the Baltimore Sun about my treatment in jail & my improved appearance. Have you got it. If you have these items send me proof at me. I want the sketch to go in between Part II, & the Appendix. I ordered a word cut of it when I sent it. Please send me a written answer.”

Next is a three-sheet booklet assembled by Guiteau as a layout guide for the opening pages of the book, the first being a title page reading: “The Truth and The Removal By Charles Guiteau, Published and sold only by the author. Washington, D.C., 1882,” with a note in the margin, “Make a sheet of each page & cut out any leaves that interpose. C. G.” The reverse is signed again, “Copyright 1882, By Charles Guiteau.” On the next page Guiteau has simply written “Part I,” followed by the last page which reads, “The Truth: A Companion to the Bible.” Guiteau then adds a parenthetical instruction, “To the printer, (Copy preface on the next page and then the entire book, The Truth),” referring to his 1879 volume. An additional leaf bears the last two words of the preface, “is insanity,” followed by Guiteau’s signature, “Charles Guiteau, United States Jail, Washington D.C., March 14, 1882.”

Three other fragments from the autograph manuscript are present, including two paragraphs of the “Conclusion,” a deleted passage berating his court-appointed attorney George Scoville, and a page bearing an affixed newspaper clipping. The conclusion, in part: “Whatever this generation may think of me, future generations will see my work & character record from this book. It was sown in dishonor but the Almighty will see that it is reaped in glory. 'Ye are honorable, but I am despised’—by fools and devils…Life is a flimsy dream & it matters little when one goes. Paradise is a great improvement on this sin cursed world & I shall be far better off there than here.” The balance of the archive features six letters from Guiteau's admirers, many of which were published in The Removal. On all of the letters, Guiteau had crossed out certain sections for the benefit of the printer. In overall very good to fine condition. From the family of printer William Gibson, whose firm printed the book in 1882.