Product details
Howard Thurston's Illusion Show Work Book 1 Edited by Maurine Christopher Additional Material by Jim Steinmeyer Published by Mike Caveney (Magical Publications) 228 pages, slipcase & prospectus In 1910 Howard Thurston decided to make a technical record of his extravagant show. The major pieces of apparatus were carried out to the loading dock of the theatre w, in the sunlight, they were carefully photographed. Pertinent construction details were exposed to a simple Brownie camera. These priceless photographs were then carefully pasted into a leather work book and annotated with hundreds of precise dimensions. Several of the routines were accompanied by the full patter. Most significantly, the Work Book contained a long and detailed section on the prize of the Thurston Show, Kellar's Levitation. The explanation included dozens of photographs, text, information about the machinery, and several original Thurston presentations. Howard Thurston included descriptions of many other illusions, including The Kellar Spirit Cabinet, the Lady and the Lion, the Glass Trunk, The Prisoner of Canton and even Thurston's famous Inexhaustible Cocoanut. This Work Book had resided for many years in the Milbourne Christopher Collection. After his death, Christopher's wife, Maureen, published this copy of the book, in an exclusive form, to the community of magicians. For many years an unknown book, a unique record of the Thurston Wonders and the Thurston secrets, this is a breathtaking treasure for admirers of stage magic. It provides revelations, gives insight, and is a rare, first-hand account of the details which were responsible for America's most successful, most renowned touring magic show. Published in 1991 in a limited edition of 500 copies, Howard Thurston's Illusion Show Work Book has long been out of print and highly sought after by magic historians, collectors, performers, and enthusiasts. This is copy #295 in very good condition with hard covers, pictorial endpapers, tipped-in full colour reproduction of a Strobridge three-sheet poster, in a special gold stamped slipcase and with the original prospectus included.
