This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/17/2024
[VERNON]. GANSON, Lewis (1913 – 80). The Dai Vernon Book of Magic. London: Unique Magic Studio, [1957]. Restricted First Edition, bound in pebbled maroon leather, spine (rebacked) gilt lettered and ruled. Marbled endsheets and tipped-in page printed in gilt. Illustrated with photographs. 8vo. Very good. Numbered (#15), inscribed and signed on the flyleaf: “To my friend Max Katz / admired and respected by / by every lover of the art and / one of the most skillful / performers in the world. / Keep up the good work Max / Sincerely / Dai Vernon.” The name of Katz’s grandson, Ricky Jay, has been penciled in at the upper left corner of the flyleaf.
While Harry Stanley, the publisher of Vernon’s seminal book, offered copies of the volume bound in “the finest calf-leather” (The Gen, June 1957) some have speculated that Vernon received a quantity of the leatherbound books in part payment for the work, then offered them for sale or distributed them as gifts to friends and colleagues.