This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/9/2023
DEVANT, David (David Wighton, 1868 – 1941). David Devant’s own Keepsake Wallet with Portrait, and Family Photo Grouping. 1900s – 30s. A smooth brown roan picture wallet lined in silk, holding a charming candid portrait of Devant and his wife, posed outdoors and smiling, circa 1910. Laid in are four loose Devant family photographs, including one picturing Devant in his last years, and two portraits of his mother, the first bearing a lengthy message in ink on its verso addressed to Devant and his wife from his sister, Joss.
Sold together with an album page bearing handwritten captions in white ink, with ten candid Devant family photographs mounted with photo corners. Four images depict Devant, one an outdoor pose (possibly with Julian Wylie, Devant’s agent and manager and the premier pantomime producer in the U.K.), another of Devant and his wife at Buckfastleigh, a third showing him stepping from an airplane, and the last showing Devant posed in an alleyway behind a theater together with his disappearing donkey named “magic.” The largest image 5 ½ x 3 ½”, and all photographs in good condition, with age-related wear as expected. A choice grouping of personal images from the life and career of the man who was arguably the greatest British magician of his generation.