This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/28/2023
RUBINI (Philip Prentice Anderson, 1844–1920 [?]). THE WORLD-RENOWNED RUBINI! BEHEADING A LADY! Hartlepool: J. Procter, ca. 1869. Two-color letterpress broadside for a magician who some believe to be the illegitimate son of John Henry Anderson, Wizard of the North. The featured effect on his program is a version of the decapitation illusion later favored by Herrmann and Dante. Framed to 29 × 15½". Chips, stains, and small losses visible; not examined out of frame. See Exemplars, page 297.
Rubini’s given name is the matter of some debate, as outlined briefly in David Price’s Magic: A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theater (1985). This is one of many playbills removed from the shuttered office of Procter’s printing office by Robert Wood, and chronicled in his book, Victorian Delights (1967).