(Blow Book: John Henry Anderson) | Wiz biz

(Blow Book: John Henry Anderson)
[The Magic Picture Gallery. London: n.p., ca. 1850]

4to (279 x 216 mm) comprising 64 leaves of handcolored engraved double spreads of a harlequin, ballerina, a conjuror holding a cat by its tail, a clown, a black minstrel, a caricature of Edmund Kean as Richard III, and Anderson himself producing nosegays from a hat, concluding with a double-page spread of blanks, the series repeated 7 times for a total of 98 images. Flexible leather covers; spine and covers rubbed, upper hinge cracked. Black cloth folding case, rose pink lettering-piece.

John Henry Anderson, dubbed "The Great Wizard of the North," "was born in Scotland in 1814 and was performing professionally before he was twenty. … Before coming to London for his metropolitan debut in 1840 he performed in Scotland and England a repertoire of standard effects couched in language grand glorious. One of his offerings in this period was 'the Magic Picture Gallery,' the title Anderson most often used for the blow book.

"At some point, Anderson made a decision that it was more profitable to sell the blow book than to perform it on stage" (Ricky Jay, Magic Magic Book, pp.41–42). A number of purveyors of conjuring effects had been selling blow books as early as 1797. Anderson advertised his version at a December 1848 show at London's Strand Theatre at a cost of £1 urging "As a Christmas Present, Buy Professor Anderson's Magic Picture Gallery. … This is the most extraordinary Book in the World, a Child can perform this Feat, astonishing every Beholder" (quoted by Jay, p. 43).

REFERENCE:
Ricky Jay, The Magic Magic Book (1994), pp. 41–45

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.

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