Anderson, John Henry (The Great Wizard of the North) | "… the most Wonderful Feat ever attempted by living Man … the Gun Delusion!"

Anderson, John Henry (The Great Wizard of the North)

Two playbills for the "Gun Trick" of the Great Wizard of the North

Strand Theatre ... Gun Delusion. Bloomsbury: R. Francis, 1840. Letterpress playbill (510 x 252 mm). Printed in blue, large woodcut vignette depicting the gun trick at head, printed in blue, "Great Wizard of the North" in ornamental type utilizing grotesques, and "Gun Trick" in ornamental type utilizing various pistols and rifles; some light smudging, one or two spots. Mounted on linen. — Strand Theatre ... The Gun Trick. Holborn: H. Court, 1840. Letterpress playbill (510 x 250 mm). Printed in blue, large woodcut vignette depicting Anderson's card tricks; uniformly sunned save along bottom of woodcut, some foxing, short closed marginal tears, small internal chip to head affecting woodcut.

Two attractive broadsides for The Great Wizard of the North's "Gun Delusion," in which he would catch a bullet fired at him with his bare hand. "In this splendid invention, he distinctly assures the Public, that the extraordinary Mystery of the Trick is not effected by the aid of any accomplice or by inserting a tube in the muzzle of the Gun, or by other conceivable devices … but that any Gentleman may really Load the Gun in the usual manner, inserting, himself, A Marked real Leaden Ball!!!"