Video Fridays: Ricky Jay’s History of Magic Collection
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In our spring 2016 issue, we interviewed master magician and book collector Ricky Jay on the occasion of the publication of his magnum opus and a related Met exhibition about seventeenth-century polymath Matthias Buchinger. Since Jay’s death in 2018, however, his collection has been in limbo.
Later this month, that collection finally heads to auction. Below is a one-minute overview, and what can I say? Prepare to be amazed! This is an incredible collection — from sixteenth-century witchcraft to Buchinger’s hand-drawn family tree to vintage Houdini posters (such as the one pictured above, estimated at $40,000-60,000).
Also, don’t miss Steve Martin’s essay on Jay, in which he writes, “Ricky’s legacy reminds us that a collection need not be an amalgamation of stuff, but a scholarly divination of what coheres and what informs, as well as a reminder that the almost unseen can be a valuable and colorful supplement to our human history.” Full text here.