Magic Collection of Jim Rawlins Part III

Delbert, Donna (Delbert Hill). Donna Delbert Postcard, signed. England, 1947. Printed card bearing an image of a woman emerging from a cauldron, and advertising Delbert as “The Outstanding American Lady Magician.” She was not. Inscribed and signed by Delbert on the recto in ink. Postally unused. Rare. Delbert’s remarkable story – her real name was Mr. Delbert Hill, Pfc., U.S.A.F. – was chronicled by Teller in the New York Times Magazine in April, 1994. Hill went AWOL from the US Air Force during WWII and posed as the “lady magician” advertised here, for some four years before being exposed by his two female lovers, and being sentenced to two years of hard labor.