This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/17/2024
[MYSTERIOUS LADY]. HANINGTON, Julia Anne (ca. 1793 – 1892). Just Returned to London … the Mysterious Lady. [London]: G. Stuart, Printer, ca. 1846. Letterpress broadside advertising an appearance at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. She will “declare the names of articles produced by the company although sitting at a distance of 50 or 60 feet, with her face turned from the audience!” Press notices fill half of the poster. 15 x 9 ¾”. Hinged to stiff card, foxed. SCARCE. One of several mystery entertainers to appear at the Egyptian Hall before Maskelyne, the Mysterious Lady also traveled to America to demonstrate her extraordinary abilities, and even appeared before Queen Victoria (as this bill states). Her ability to see things without looking at them was cited by Harry Houdini in his Unmasking of Robert-Houdin as evidence that the feat known as Second Sight was developed long before Robert-Houdin’s rise to fame.