[BOOTH, John Wilkes (1838-1865), subject]. BATES, Finis L. (1848-1923). The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth or the First True Account of Lincoln’s Assassination Containing a Complete Confession by Booth Many Years After the Crime. Giving a Full Detail the Plans, Plot, and Intrigue of the Conspirators, and the Treachery of Andrew Johnson, Then Vice-President of the United States. Memphis: The Historical Publishing Co., [1907]. 8vo. Illustrated with 16 plates. [x], [1]-309, [1, blank] pp. Publisher’s perfect-bound pictorial wrappers (wrappers worn, soiled, chipped, edges of spine chipped, text toned with occasional edgewear and tears, some chipping, wear to plates). Still, a very good example of this fragile item. FIRST EDITION OF THIS CONTROVERSIAL BOOK. This book describes the conspiracy theory that Booth was in the employ of Andrew Johnson, and that Booth escaped arrest and lived for several years before committing suicide in 1903 (under the name David George). The author claimed that he met Booth living under an assumed name (John St. Helen) in 1873, and that the man who died in the Garrett barn was, in fact, Ruddy St. Helen, a plantation overseer. Supposedly, after Booth’s suicide, his body was embalmed and mummified and displayed by the author for several decades. This book was an effort to bolster Bates’ claims as to the authenticity of the corpse and created a sensation after its publication.