Description:

Guiteau Charles 1842 - 1882 Remarkable and newly discovered ALS by Charles Guiteau, to the publisher of his 1882 book, justifying his shooting of President James A. Garfield, written from jail



Autograph Letter Signed,"Charles Guiteau," 2 pages, 6.25" x 8", to his publisher, Gibson Bros. Creases, marginal tears, light toning, some text faded, else good condition.

The letter reads, in full: "This book seems to linger. I wish you send me all the proof Monday. I have advertised the book 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 once. 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 by your (illegible) Monday. Yours Charles Guiteau." The sketch to which Guiteau refers was sent to the prisoner by an admirer in January 1882, and appeared on page 199 of the published work, just before the first page of the Appendix, per his request. The sketch showed a bearded man beside a large bag of money and a cannon firing several men (one of which was labelled "CORKHILL") into the gates of Hell. And true to his word, an advertisement for Guiteau's book appeared on page four of the April 1, 1882 issue of the Washington Evening Star, curiously classified under "SEWING MACHINES &c." rather than beneath the heading, "BOOKS, &c." As the advertisement announced that the book was "JUST OUT!", Guiteau no doubt was impatient see the work in print.

Also included is an undated letter from one of Guiteau's admirers, Clara Augusta Davis, of West Hoboken, New Jersey. Davis plans a personal visit to Guiteau in confinement, writing: "Father goes to Washington Friday Evening. I have extorted a promise that I may accompany him, and that he will take me to Court; but he will not promise, but refuses, to take me to the jail. Unless I can coax him, before his departure, to do this, or let some friends take me to the jail, I shall pout and be disagreeable and stay at home." Guiteau has crossed out a section of the letter for the benefit of the printer.

Following James A. Garfield's death on September 19, 1881, Charles Guiteau, who had already been imprisoned and charged with attempted murder, was now charged with murder and went on trial on November 14, 1881. The trial concluded on January 30, 1882 and on February 4, the court sentenced him to hang on June 30. While awaiting his execution, Guiteau composed a sequel to his 1879 religious tract, The Truth, a Companion to the Bible, entitled, The Removal (the term he employed to describe his assassination of President Garfield). The condemned prisoner employed Gibson Brothers of Washington to print the book as The Truth and The Removal.

Extremely Rare. These are among the only known pages of Guiteau's manuscript for The Removal known to be extant in private hands. Auction records reveal no other draft pages of the present, most important manuscript. Only Malcolm Forbes had a similar Guiteau item, sold at auction in 2002 (Christies, March 27, 2002, Lot 122, $9,988).

From the family of printer William Gibson, whose firm printed the book in 1882.

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