This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/17/2024
[KNIFE THROWER]. Pair of Mid-Nineteenth Century British Broadsides for Knife-Throwing Acts. Includes: Tall one-color letterpress playbill advertising a performance by “the Chinese Magicians”, Tuck Quay (Tuck Quy), Whangnhoo (Wan Nuy), Tin-kee, and Amoy (Achuen “Grace” Amoy Eaton 1846 - 1922), to take place at the Prince’s Theatre-Royal. [Glasgow]: 1854. John Henry Anderson (1814 – 1874) saw this troupe in the United States in 1853 and arranged for their tour England the following year. A highlight of the performance was Tuck Quay’s knife-throwing act, the “Living Target! Or the Frame of Knives.” 30 x 10”. Old linen backing. Chipping and discoloration, loss to edges, corners and folds. — and, a narrow monochrome pictorial letterpress broadside playbill advertising January performances at the Theatre Royal. Plymouth: Keys Typ., [ca. 1861]. Bearing a wood-engraved image of an Asian performer at right hurling a knife across a stage to the left, where his assistant stands against a wooden backdrop already impaled with several previously thrown knives in close proximity to his body. The text states: “Between the pieces every night, the great feat of impaling the human body.” This daring performance (possibly by Ahsam and Arr Hee) occurred in conjunction with various opening acts and an elaborate pantomime titled “The House That Jack Built.” 29 ¾ x 6 ¾”. Unbacked. Central horizontal tear repaired, upper right and lower left edges tattered, scattered light foxing.