Anderson, John Henry (The Great Wizard of the North) | An ornate playbill for "The Great Wizard of the North"

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

Standard Theatre ... a Night in Wonder-World. [London]: n.p., [1851]

Printed broadside playbill (751 x 340 mm). Elaborately printed in green and black, with four woodcut vignettes depicting Anderson's performances; three old folds, some abrasions with very small chips, stray spots, trimmed at left margin. Framed and glazed with Plexiglass.

A handsome and ornate broadside advertising The Great Wizard of the North at the Standard Theatre. In his usual lavish fashion, Professor Anderson, famous for his self-promotion, here announces "his magical drama, a Night in Wonder-World." While Anderson relentlessly criticized conjurers who borrowed from him, "he never hesitated to appropriate material from skilled rivals. For [this performance] Anderson copied not only major illusions from the repertoire of the great French conjurer Robert-Houdin but the basic design of his posters as well. This one was patterned after a bill produced by the Frenchman in 1849 that similarly featured distinctive colored borders surrounding woodcut vignettes of the magician. In Anderson's version, four pieces were lifted from Robert-Houdin's show: 'The Fantastic Portfolio,' 'The Ladies Favorite,' 'The Shower of Gold,' and 'The Inexhaustible Bottle'" (EE).

In addition to the entertainment, Anderson announces that, for the audience's pleasure, "The Theatre will be Nightly Ventilated by an Improved form of the Great Hindostanee Punkah Scented with Frangiapanni and diffusing Odoriferous Coolness through the House."

REFERENCE:

EE, p. 126; Magic, p. 187