W. J. Hennessy / William James Linton:

21) Edwin Booth In Twelve Dramatic Characters.

Boston 1872

For his assassination of President Lincoln, actor John Wilkes Booth won such a degree of postumous fame that even outshined those of his brother Edwin Booth, who is regarded by some theatrical historians as the greatest male American actor of the 19th century. Linton had “the honour and pleasure of seeing him occasionally both on and off the stage, free of his theatre during his first performances in the one built by him in New York, free to speak with him behind the scenes, and meeting him sometimes at the Century Club in New York; a fine actor, a worthy gentleman.” (Memories) Linton’s xylographic free-style and his self-confidence as an artist-engraver obviously were considered as being genuine means to grasp Booth’s progressive, unaffected acting style. The engraver had been satisfied with the quality of his work to such a degree, that he reproduced a full-page example in his History of American Wood Engraving.