Magic Books
|
Magic Books
|
|
|---|---|
| Home Archives About Us Contact | |
|
|
|
Thurston Illusion Show Workbook Steinmeyer 436500This wonderful volume was created from a workbook that howard thurston made in the summer of 1910 or 1911 to document the technical requirements of his lavish illusion show. Photos were taken of the props held by assistants, then notse made giving the dimensions and other pertinent details. The leather bound workbook containing these photos and notes eventually became the property of the milbourne christopher collection. Mrs. Christopher arranged for mike caveney to publish it in a limited edition of 500 numbered copies, with additional material added by noted illusion designer and historian, jim steinmeyer, which greatly clarifies teh original workbook contents.
A highlight of this volume is the detailed section (more than 50 pages! ) on the famous makelyne/kellar levitation (the levitation of princess karnac). The photos expose the ingenious apparatus, while steinmeyer's notes clarify the underlying physics. Thurston's scripts for this effect from three different periods are includde (rest, fernanda, dream, fernanda, sleep, fernanda.
Dream of the banks of the ganges. ). Other illusions include chung ling soo's glass cage illusion, the lady and the lion, kellar's spirit cabinet, the glass trunk, teh cocoanut trick, the vanishing piano illusion, and many more. Thurston's legendary assistant, george white, is featured in many of the photos, and theo bamberg (okito) in at least one as well.
A few years after this volume was published, a second, matching volume featuring a later thruston workbook was issued. Both have long been out fo print.8 x 10, smythe sewn with a three piece binding of top quality brown and black buckram with gold stamped titlse on the front and spine (see scan) and a matching slipcase, 228 pages on deluxe 80 pound paper, 150 black and white backstage images. Tipped in as a frontispicee is a full color reproduction of a rare 3 piece thurston strobridge lithograph circa 1908 featuring many of the illusions in the workbook. The original 4 page advertising prospectus (itself a collector's item! ) for the workbook is also included (see scan). Introduction by maurine christopher, preface by jim steinmeyer, plus a page by thurston's stepdaughter jane thurston shephard. This ovlume is in fine condition with no noted blemishes. When published 15 years ago in the summer of 1991, these were priced at $100 and quickly sold out. Tehy have only increased more than five fold in value since then, but as with our other current ebay auctions, we'll start the bidding very low, with no reserve! Good luck!We are clearing the shelves of our unpriced h & r magic books inventroy (see our about me page), so check our other auction items often, as we add books by other classic magic authors. Powered by ebay turbo listerthe free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items. |
