Professor Loramus | The first magician seen by Félicien Trewey

Professor Loramus

Musée de Barnums de France … Truc nouveau par le Professeur Loramus. Lille: Lith. Mr. Bayart, ca. 1875

Lithograph poster (26 3/4 x 20 3/4 in.; 682 x 530 mm). French revenue stamps; shaved at top, some light surface scratches and fold creases. Laid down on linen.

Loramus was a significant and influential, if now obscure, French conjuror of the the mid-nineteenth century who headed a Barnum-sponsored travelling show. Many of his effects were appropriated from Robert-Houdin, including the Shower of Gold. Félicien Trewey recalled Loramus as the first magician he had ever seen. 

This scarce poster depicts Loramus holding aloft a magic box, which he cryptically addresses, "Chère petite boite, tu seras ma dernière pensée et comme je le prévois, lu vivras encore quand je ne serai plus." On a table to his right stands an automaton peacock.

REFERENCE:

Magic, p. 39; Exemplars, p. 332