Maskelyne, John Nevil, & George A. Cooke | Psycho the Automaton Whist Player

Maskelyne, John Nevil, & George A. Cooke

Egyptian Hall Piccadilly. Daily at 3 and 8 o'Clock. Maskelyne & Cooke. The Royal Illusionists. … Psycho the Automaton Whist Player is Exhibited at Every Representation. The Present Programme also includes Light & Dark Seances, being a Thorough and Complete Exposure of Spiritualism. … W. Morton, Manager. Nottingham: Stafford and Co., Printers and Engravers, ca. 1875

Color lithograph poster (21 1/8 x 13 7/8 in.; 536 x 353 mm). Incorporating some letterpress text and a central transferred woodcut image by David Henry Friston of Psycho in operation; tears and chips, including some significant losses to margin, some minor restoration and recoloring. Laid down on linen.

Psycho, a miniature mechanical man invented by George Clarke, debuted with John Nevil Maskelyne at Egyptian Hall in January 1875. Psycho—"examined by the audience and then placed atop a glass cylinder, ensuring that there were no connections with the stage"—played the card game whist against members of the audience, usually winning the trick (Magic, p. 59). Friston's woodcut of Psycho in action was also published in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 20 February 1875.

REFERENCE:

Exemplars, p. 179