The Ricky Jay Collection

The Ricky Jay Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 546. Scott, A.W. | The Detectives' Museum and the Rogues' Gallery.

Scott, A.W. | The Detectives' Museum and the Rogues' Gallery

Auction Closed

October 28, 08:54 PM GMT

Estimate

800 - 1,200 USD

Lot Details

Description

Scott, A.W.

Detectives' Museum. Athol, Massachusetts: Waterman's Steam Printing House, [ca. 1878]


Letterpress broadside (572 x 133 mm). Printed recto and verso in numerous type sizes and -faces, large wood engraved portrait of A.W. Scott at center of recto, exhibition address handwritten in blue at head; eight horizontal folds, repaired tears at third, sixth, seventh, and eighth folds, several pinholes, a few very small chips. Matted in double-sided frame and glazed with Plexiglas.


"A life-long curiosity satisfied." Ex-detective A.W. Scott's traveling museum was made up of "thousands of curiosities taken from noted criminals, Truthfully illustrating Crime, in connection with the Life Experiences of a Detective." 


Printed on the verso is an advertisement for an extra attraction, the Rogues' Gallery—a collection of 1,000 portraits of noted criminals—and an extensive catalogue of what can be seen at the museum, including "The Deacon or Safe Puller, one of the most powerful machines ever invented for operating on heavy Safes," "Dark Lanterns, Bucks and Gaggs, and Old Prison Padlocks, the largest in the world," and "Relics taken from draft Rioters, including Gun broken in three pieces, over officer Scott's head."

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