Five Rare Books for Collectors: Magic

Highlights from Potter & Potter's auction The Collection of Edwin A Dawes, Part I on February 24. Scholar, author, historian, professor, and magician, Edwin Dawes was the most prolific chronicler of conjuring history in the 20th century. This first offering from his collection features unique lithographs, antiquarian books, early broadsides, and vintage apparatus from the 17th century to the present day. 

* Chung Ling Soo’s Address Book

A tab-cut “Where is It” (cover title) address book owned by the “Marvelous Chinese Conjurer” Chung Ling Soo (William E. Robinson, 1863 – 1918) and filled with entries in ink in his own hand, including many key contacts important to his long and accomplished career as an entertainer. A fascinating and revealing document that provides an inner view of the life of one of the Edwardian era’s most successful conjurers

* The Conjuror’s Repository, Or, The Whole Art and Mystery of Magic Displayed

London: Printed [by Dewick and Clarke] for T. and R. Hughes, ca. 1803. One-quarter black morocco over blue cloth with spine label lettered gilt. Hand-colored frontispiece. 12mo. Ex-libris Trevor Hall and Edwin A. Dawes. Internally very good, with hole in gutter of title page and some marginal browning, general wear to binding.

*  Signor Bosco. List of Conundrums Sent in for Competition

(Glasgow: J.B. Woodward), 1857. Yellow printed wrappers with a portrait of Bosco to the upper, illustrated
circus advertisement to lower. Roland Winder bookplate and “S” label from Sotheby’s sale inside front wrap. Scarce. 

*  [The] Midget Magician

Wilf Huggins. January 1951 - September 1960). Complete file of loose issues, number 20 of only 50 files issued, each signed and numbered by Huggins. Dawes bookplate included. This vest pocket-size magazine was “privately issued for lovers of conjuring” and is widely sought after due to its scarcity.