This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/2/2020
Bishop, Washington Irving. Washington Irving Bishop St. James’s Hall Program. London, 1883. Handsome letterpress program filled with endorsements and descriptions of Bishop’s thought-reading abilities, and posing his £1000 challenge to Henry Labouchere, Esq., M.P. Old folds, strip of paper on rear panel at spine from scrapbook; good. Rare. Six years after this program was printed, Bishop died under strange circumstances. Prone to cataleptic fits (the mentalist claimed he sometimes remained in a trance state for extended periods after demonstrating his “powers”), the mind reader was presumed dead on May 12, 1889 after lapsing into a coma while giving mind reading demonstrations. According to his mother, Bishop was not dead, but only in a trance, and perfectly healthy. But the following day an unauthorized autopsy sealed his fate.