- VERNON, DAI. MALINI AND HIS MAGIC. LONDON:
VERNON, DAI. MALINI AND HIS MAGIC. LONDON: HARRY STANLE...Vernon, Dai. Malini and his Magic. London: Harry Stanley, (1959). Red cloth with jacket. Illustrated, including photos. Square 8vo. Near fine. Inscribed and signed on the flyleaf, ÒTo my old friend Monk Watson/ with fond memories of old times/ Sincerely, Dai Vernon.Ó Inscribed and signed to the next owners, Sally and Bill Tadlock, by Watson.
- MALINI (MAX KATZ BREIT). MALINI. THE
MALINI (MAX KATZ BREIT). MALINI. THE CONJUROR OF THE CE...[Australia], ca. 1925. Two-color broadside features a photographic portrait of the famous Jewish-American magician best known for his impromptu miracles, and for performing before monarchs, presidents, and society elites. 14 ¾ x 34 ¼". Minor repairs throughout image; B. The only known example of this portrait. As Ricky Jay wrote in Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, “…Malini was the embodiment of what a magician should be – not a performer who requires a fully equipped stage, elaborate apparatus, elephants, or handcuffs to accomplish his mysteries, but one who can stand a few inches from you and with a borrowed coin, a lemon, a knife, a tumbler, or a pack of cards convince you he performs miracles.” Indeed, Malini (1873 – 1942) built his reputation on impromptu miracles, performing for socialites, heads of state, monarchs, and even tribal leaders in a long career that took him around the globe. From biting the buttons off of Senator Mark Hanna’s coat on the steps of the Capitol building (and restoring them), to transforming roasted chickens into live, flapping birds at the center of a high society dinner party, Malini made his name by surprising his audiences with unexpected moments of wonder. Posters advertising Malini are truly rare, with only one other commercially printed advertisement for him known.
- MALINI, MAX. OAKLAND MAGIC CIRCLE PROGRAM
MALINI, MAX. OAKLAND MAGIC CIRCLE PROGRAM ADMISSION TIC...Malini, Max (Max Katz Breit). Oakland Magic Circle Program Admission Ticket. Oakland, Calif., 1932. Printed ticket, number 609, for the magic show presented at the Hotel Leamington.3 x 4 ". Fine.
- VINTAGE PHOTO OF MALINI.Malini, Max
VINTAGE PHOTO OF MALINI.Malini, Max (Max Katz Breit). Vintage Photo of Malini. Mid-twentieth century reprint of an iconic image of the magician, mock signature in the lower right corner. Scrapbook paper remnants to verso. 6 x 4".
- SNAPSHOT OF MALINI, CHARLIE MILLER,
SNAPSHOT OF MALINI, CHARLIE MILLER, AND GERALD KOSKY.Malini, Max (Max Katz Breit). Snapshot of Malini, Charlie Miller, and Gerald Kosky. Los Angeles, ca. 1936. Original sepia print snapshot showing the three magicians seated upon a couch, Kosky and Malini shaking hands. 4 x 5".
- VERNON, DAI. LOT OF SEVEN BOOKS ON MAGIC.Vernon,
VERNON, DAI. LOT OF SEVEN BOOKS ON MAGIC.Vernon, Dai (David Frederick Wingfield Verner). Lot of Seven Books on Magic. Including Ultimate Card Secrets (n.d.); Malini and His Magic (n.d.); Book of Magic (n.d.); Inner Secrets trilogy (bound in a single volume); Expanded Lecture Notes (1970); Early Vernon (1979); and Revelations (1984). Illustrated. 8vo. Jackets and covers lightly shelfworn, but good overall.
- OVER 35 TLSS FROM BILL SIMON TO FAUCETT
OVER 35 TLSS FROM BILL SIMON TO FAUCETT ROSS.Simon, Bill. Over 35 TLSs from Bill Simon to Faucett Ross. Spanning 1949-68. Lengthy TLSs and several ALSs, most three or four pages, and describing step-by-step methods for tricks (Christ's aces among them), and gossip about magic's "inner circle" in the 1940s: Miller, Vernon, Malini, Dr. Daley, Carlyle, among others. Anecdotes and personal gossip fills many lines: "Dai & I returned from a bull-session at Bruce Elliott's last night and when we went up to Dai's apartment [3:00 am?] we were greeted by Carlyle & Neepy [Vernon's son] playing chess!!" "Dai has something that not only makes the double lift obsolete but also makes all of card magic, as we know it today, as remote and worthless as was the devices used by mystics hundreds of years ago. É I have no idea what the hell it is all about." Other subjects include lengthy discourses on hypnotism, marketed magic effects, magic conventions, Dr. Stanley Jaks and Jimmy Grippo. Most on 4to letterheads and signed "Bill Simon" or "Wm." Neatly organized. A successful businessman in the auto industry, Simon (1927 - 1988) had a keen mind and entered college at the age of 15. One of the best-posted amateur card magicians of his era and a close friend of Dai Vernon, he published three books on card conjuring, and another treatise on mathematical magic. He is perhaps best-remembered by modern magicians as an inventor of several clever sleight-of-hand maneuvers, many of which were published in his now-classic text, Effective Card Magic (Louis Tannen, 1952).
- IMPORTANT ARCHIVE OF CORRESPONDENCE
IMPORTANT ARCHIVE OF CORRESPONDENCE FROM CHARLIE MILLER...Miller, Charlie (Charles Earle Miller). Important Archive of Correspondence from Charlie Miller to Faucett Ross. Remarkable for their content - both anecdotal and factual - Miller describes in great deal the working and subtleties behind many of the effects in his ever-evolving repertoire. Among these are an early description and diagram of the Malini Egg Bag, as well as "touches" and complete routines for effects including the Sun and Moon, Hofzinser's Obliging Bouquet, Leipzig's Cigars from Purse, effects devised by Vernon, Manuel, Horowitz, and Paul Fox, the Linking Rings, Ring on Stick, and dozens of card tricks, parlor effects, and close-up tricks. Dozens of hand-drawn illustrations complement the text. The letters also go on at length regarding gossip and other members of magic's "inner circle," often in unflattering terms. This coterie included Dai Vernon, Jay Ose, Larry Jennings, Bruce Cervon, Leo Behnke, and dozens more. Miller also frequently comments on the early days of the Magic Castle. Many missives also confess personal and deeply private feelings. Miller describes his many performances, outlining his complete program and his success (or lack thereof). Typed and handwritten, primarily on blank 4to sheets. Many run to five pages or more, with one early letter spanning over 30 handwritten pages. 1930s - 80s (bulk 1960s). A handful of the letters in the archive written by Miller to Frank Csuri. Over 300 pages in all. Neatly organized. These letters were the basis of Frank Csuri's "underground" notebook on the magic of Charlie Miller. While universally acknowledged as an accomplished, knowledgeable, and exceptionally skillful magician, Miller struggled for most of his life to find steady work. In many ways the consummate amateur, he constantly tinkered with tricks, methods, and presentations, and as a result, some would say, lost sight of the bigger picture: performing for the public. Much of his attention to detail is laid bare in these letters, which describe his endless obsession with refining the effects he performed. For decades, Miller was known to magicians as "America's houseguest," living off the good graces and in the homes of many friends, Faucett Ross included. Despite his personal failings, he was, by all accounts, not only a kind man, but one who, with the right direction and determination, would have been equal to or better than most of his contemporaries.
- COLLECTION OF EDDIE MCGUIRE MANUSCRIPTS
COLLECTION OF EDDIE MCGUIRE MANUSCRIPTS AND LETTERS.McGuire, Eddie. Collection of Eddie McGuire Manuscripts and Letters. Including an early carbon of the Phantom of the Card Table (bearing the penciled note from Busby: "Sent by McGuire to Faucett Ross Thence to Frank Csuri, so must be authentic"), a later apparently unpublished typescript by McGuire of Walter Scott's "Slick Ace" formula, two TLSs regarding Walter Scott from U.F. Grant, three letters (two lacking pages) from McGuire to Faucett Ross, a handful of McGuire ephemera, two later editions of Phantom, a candid photo of Scott, McGuire, and Artanis, and more. Accompanied by several articles and research culled from publications regarding McGuire, his relationship to Malini, and his relationship to T. Nelson Downs. Neatly organized in four black binders.
- CSURI, FRANK. THE CSURI NOTES [ORIGINAL
CSURI, FRANK. THE CSURI NOTES [ORIGINAL TYPESCRIPTS].Csuri, Frank. The Csuri Notes [Original Typescripts]. 1960s. Being the original typewritten transcriptions of Csuri's famous notebooks collecting the unpublished and published magic effects of Dai Vernon, Paul Fox, Charlie Miller (including many entries on Malini's magic), Faucett Ross, Bill Woodfield, and Dr. Jacob Daley. Profusion of hand-drawn illustrations. Approximately 3,000 pages of text, typed rectos only, housed in twelve thick 4to volumes, approximately one third in binders as collected by Csuri, the balance neatly organized in black ring binders. One volume being Csuri's collection of Nelson Hahne cartoons (facsimiles); another his transcription of "The Vernon Touch" columns from Genii. The Daley Notebooks inscribed and signed: "To my good friend Jeff Busby; These are the tricks that were in Daley's notebooks loaned to me by Dai Vernon and subsequently published by Karl Fulves. I hope that you enjoy having this original manuscript. Frank Csuri." Three handwritten pages by Dai Vernon, correcting Csuri's transcription, accompany this volume. A unique set of documents. Should be seen. Csuri (1911 - 94), immigrated to America from Hungary with his family as a child and became a successful night club magician by early adulthood, but spent most of his professional life working as an engineer. He began the project of transcribing (and deciphering, some would say) the tricks and methods of Dai Vernon and Dr. Jacob Daley recorded in their letters and notebooks in the 1960s. Later, he compiled the works of Paul Fox, Faucett Ross, and Charlie Miller in the same way. The resulting record fills thousands of pages, chronicling countless secrets - many of them unpublished - from magic's "inner circle." Only the Daley notes and a portion of the Ross manuscript were released in book form. Copies of these works circulated the magic "underground" for decades and came to be known as the "Csuri Notes." A close friend of Jeff Busby's, he willed the original typescripts of these works - and all of his other magic-related material - to Busby.
- ARCHIVE OF CONNIE BUSH MANUSCRIPTS,
ARCHIVE OF CONNIE BUSH MANUSCRIPTS, NOTES, AND CORRESPO...Bush, Connie. Archive of Connie Bush Manuscripts, Notes, and Correspondence. Primarily 1960s (but some letters dating as late as 1992), and including TLSs from Bush to Frank Csuri, nearly all content regarding the methods for various magic tricks, most of them for use at the close-up table. Effects include the String Thru Fingers (with prepared string included), Herb Zarrow's Oil & Water, Del Ray's Four Ace Location, Francis Carlyle's False Cut, the Leipzig Cigar Routine, and effects by Cliff Green, Ross Bertram, Tenkai, Harry Lorayne, and dozens more. Letters include tantalizing lines: "Are there any developments on the Malini auto[biography] Ozzie has?" Many carbons; many manuscripts illustrated by hand. Over 150 pages, neatly organized. Bush, an accountant from New Jersey, was an amateur magician and one of the original recipients of Csuri's notes. He was also a close friend of other sleight-of-hand aficionados and a capable magician in his own right.
- ARCHIVE OF KEN BROOKE CORRESPONDENCE.Brooke,
ARCHIVE OF KEN BROOKE CORRESPONDENCE.Brooke, Ken. Archive of Ken Brooke Correspondence. Spanning 1977 - 1983, most being TLSs from Brooke to Busby on business matters, various products (specifically the Malini Egg Bag), personal gossip, and the perceived theft of their intellectual property. Many of Busby's carbon responses included along with price lists, order forms, and invoices. A posthumous letter from Brooke's partner, Barbara, accompanies the lot. Over 60 pages, typed and handwritten, neatly organized. Sold together with a substantial group of original Brooke instruction sheets.