Albumen carte de visite portrait of John Wilkes Booth, shown seated in three-quarter view wearing a dark jacket over a patterned waistcoat with watch chain visible. Booth’s curly hair and narrow mustache are clearly defined in the studio portrait. He holds a slender cane in his right hand while seated, the pose typical of mid-19th century actor portraits intended to present a confident theatrical persona. The mount carries a printed caption beneath the image reading “J. Wilkes Booth.” The photograph presents the well-known likeness commonly circulated in the years surrounding the American Civil War.

John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) was a prominent American stage actor from the well-known Booth theatrical family. He is historically remembered for assassinating President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865.

The reverse of the card is blank with no photographer’s imprint visible. The lack of a studio mark suggests a widely distributed commercial issue of Booth’s portrait produced for public sale during the late 19th century when images of the Lincoln assassination conspirators were heavily collected.