Presidents Garfield's Aassasin Charles J. Guiteau Writes to His Publisher from Jail waiting for Trial about his Book

This lot contains two pieces written by Charles J. Guiteau both the 2-page ALS and the ANS on the 4"x2.5"  Card about General Crocker.

"U.S. Jail", Washington D.C., March 9, 1882. Two sheets, 7 3/4 x 6 1/4 in. (197 x 159 mm). Two-page autograph letter by Presidential assassin Charles Guiteau while awaiting execution, to the Gibson Brothers Publishing Company, asking for proofs of his jail-time memoir. Creasing from old folds; five inch closed tear along same of both sheets, affecting body of letter; scattered stains; paper loss from adhesive residue at top right of first page. 

"Messrs Gibson & Bros.

Mr. Scoville sent me the receipt you signed last night.

I want you would send me all the proof you can Saturday PM so I can return it Monday. Mr. Scoville said you would put six men on the job. If you will put more & deliver me 100 copies by Monday the 20th inst I will give you $10, extra. I am going to add an appendix of 20 pages more matter. I want to strike out the essay on 'Christianity Reviewed', the part about Wiley & Moody. Let the discourse stop on the paragraph on the Christian Associations. Please note this in 'The Truth.' 

Yours &c.

Charles Guiteau

U.S. Jail

Washington D.C.

March 9, 1882

P.S. I desire the body of the book set in uniform type--letters & all--so as to make a thick book. C.G."

With an autograph note on a 4 x 2 1/4 in. card initialed by Guiteau, "Gen Crocker will call Saturday A.M. to bring me all the proof you can get ready C.G."

Three months prior to his execution for the murder of President James Garfield, Charles Guiteau requests proofs of his jail-time memoir The Truth and Removal from the Gibson Brother Publishing Company, who printed the work in 1882. 

Charles J. Guiteau (1841-82) was a lawyer and self-professed religious visionary who falsely believed he played a major role in James Garfield's campaign, and was therefore entitled to an appointed government position. After repeated attempts to contact the new administration for his reward, Guiteau was frustrated, offended, and resolved to assassinate Garfield. On July 2, 1881, while Garfield was about to board a train at the Baltimore Potomac Railroad Station, Charles Guiteau shot him twice in the back, and the President succumbed to his wounds a few months later. Guiteau was arrested, convicted, and hanged for the crime, on June 30, 1882. 

Guiteau began working on The Truth and Removal shortly after his incarceration, attempting to justify his actions, as well as provide a first-hand account of the trial. Once published however, the text only solidified the public's view that he was deranged. Based on his autopsy and documented erratic behavior, contemporary as well as modern scholarship has suggested Guiteau suffered from mental instability, possibly even schizophrenia. 

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