Currier and Ives "Assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre Washington, D.C. April 14th 1865”

Currier and Ives.  “Assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre Washington, D.C. April 14th 1865.” 

New York: Currier & Ives, 1865.  Small folio; 8 x 12 ¼..  Lithograph.  Uncolored.  Several short tears into image and margins skillfully repaired.  Large chip in left hand margin and just into image filled with image in-painted by hand in facsimile as best as possible.  Bottom right hand margin and corner filled with matching paper.  Else, fine condition.  C:291.  

A dramatic print of the assassination of Lincoln issued by the famous Currier & Ives lithographic firm of New York.  From 1834 to 1907 Nathaniel Currier, and then Currier and Ives, provided for the American people a pictorial history of their country’s growth from an agricultural society to an industrialized one.  The firm produced two types of prints–”rush” stock prints quickly made to provide information about newsworthy events, and “stock” prints depicting every conceivable subject relating to American life, such as city views, sports, games, home life, religion, entertainment, and so forth.  These print had a profound effect on popular culture, both reflecting and influencing the tastes, attitudes and perception of the world held by many Americans.

This “rush” print would have been issued as soon as possible after Lincoln’s assassination, responding to the immense demand there would have been for visual images of the tragedy.  At the right, John Wilkes Booth is shown firing a pistol at the back of Lincoln’s head, while holding a dagger in his other hand.  Lincoln clutches the American flag with his left hand and his right is raised in supplication as Lincoln lifts his head staring upwards as though beseeching the heavens.  Mrs. Lincoln is unaware of the event beside her, while her companion, Miss Harris, looks on in horror.  Booth is balanced on the left of the print by Major Rathbone, who leaps to his feet, too late to help his President.