This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2022
KELLAR, Harry (Heinrich Keller). Lengthy Letter from Kellar’s Niece to Harry Houdini. Dated August 20, 1922, Mrs. Buck, Kellar’s niece, writes to Houdini on three sheets of her uncle’s lithographed letterhead, with two of the pages being a manuscript copy of an 1871 Kellar letter to Mrs. and Mrs. J.B. Carver and giving a detailed account of Kellar and Fay’s tour through Texas, describing it as “a paradise” and going on at length about its wildlife, hunting grounds, native Americans (“we escaped with our scalps”) and the towns in which Kellar and Fay played. Minor fading to some text, but very good overall. Kellar, the first Dean of American magicians, was a mentor to Houdini, who at times proposed writing a biography of his friend. Kellar died in March of 1922, months before this letter was written. It was most likely sent to Houdini as preparatory material for the proposed biography. The missive alludes to other similar travelogue-type letters from Kellar to Carver that Mrs. Buck will transcribe for Houdini in due course.