The Ricky Jay Collection

The Ricky Jay Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 94. Breslaw, Philip | A fore-runner of Johnny Carson's "Carnac the Magnificent"?.

Breslaw, Philip | A fore-runner of Johnny Carson's "Carnac the Magnificent"?

Auction Closed

October 28, 08:54 PM GMT

Estimate

1,500 - 2,500 USD

Lot Details

Description

Breslaw, Philip

Breslaw's Last Legacy; or, The Magical Companion … the Whole to Form a Real Book of Knowledge in the Art of Conjuration. London: Printed for T. Moore, 1784 — Idem. Dublin: Printed for J. Rice, 1793


Together 2 volumes 12mo (each approx. 171 x 101 mm). 1784 edition in modern marbled boards. ESTC T96294; Toole Stott 120. Sion College Library stamp on title-page verso. — 1793 edition in tree calf. ESTC N31954. Condition is generally very good.


First edition of the London imprint, with half-title and collation A–K6. The Dublin edition is the sixth so named on the title-page. Philip Breslaw, the first magician of note to feature mind reading, performed in 1781 at the Haymarket Theatre to appreciative audiences. He also did tricks with cards, dice, watches, rings, sleeve buttons, purses, and silver medals. Curiously, the first chapter in each edition describes the hot-air balloon and how to make one, a year after the Montgolfier brothers made their famous first piloted ascent. 

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