Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2021 Issue

The Ricky Jay Collection is Reappearing!

Ricky Jay lives on!

Ricky Jay lives on!

On October 27 and 28, Sotheby’s will devote four live auction sessions to The Ricky Jay Collection, the auction house’s largest live sale since the dispersal of the Robert S Pirie Library in 2015. More than 630 lots, comprising more than 2,000 items and spanning all aspects of magic and its allied arts will be on offer: books, posters, broadsides, manuscripts, photographs, apparatus, and all manner of other material and ephemera.

 

A masterful sleight of hand magician, actor, author, and scholar, Ricky Jay was a familiar and welcome sight at Book Fairs around the world and counted many book dealers among his friends. Jay documented his collection in a series of well-received books, beginning with Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women (1986), continuing with Extraordinary Exhibitions (2005), and culminating with Matthias Buchinger: “The Greatest German Living” (2016). For anyone who has looked at the illustrations in these books, or in Jay’s Journal of Anomalies, with a sense of wonder and disbelief, now is the opportunity to add these arresting—often literally incredible—images to their own collections.

 

The great magicians are all represented in brilliant color lithograph posters, whether they specialized in close-up magic or large stage illusions : John Henry Anderson, Blackstone, Carter the Great, William Robinson as Chung Ling Soo, Thomas Nelson Downs, George Heller, Alexander Herrmann, Alois Kassner, Harry Kellar, Servais Le Roy, Max Malini, Nevil Maskelyne, Charles Morritt, the Great Nicola, Chevalier Ernest Thorn, Howard Thurston, Von Arx, and, of course Harry Houdini. Houdini is represented by some of his earliest and most uncommon posters, including the 1895 “King of Cards,” probably the earliest solo Houdini poster ($20,000–30,000); the ca. 1903 “Houdini in Russia,” which commemorates one of his most famous escapes ($30,000–40,000); “Houdini Upside Down in the Water Torture Chamber” from 1913–1915 ($40,000–60,000); and, with his wife Beatrice, in “The Original Introducers of Metamorphosis” from 1895 ($25,000–35,000). Material from some of the many escape artists inspired by Houdini is also available, including a challenge poster for his brother, Hardeen ($1,500–2,500); George Zachs ($2,000–3,000); and, most notoriously, Miss Undina, whose copycat act Houdini successfully sued to suppress ($15,000–20,000).

 

In addition to magic, circus acts are well represented, particularly of the equestrian and daredevil variety: Signor Bagonghi (Giuseppe Bignoli)  with Barnum & Bailey ($1,500–2,500); a 1767 handbill for Mr. Price's Original Feats of Horsemanship ($800–1,200); Willy Manns’s “Todesritt” for Circus Corty-Althoff ($2,500–3,500); and Aloys Peters performing the iron neck jump that eventually cost his life ($1,000–1.500). But acrobats and wire walkers, jugglers and strongmen and strongwomen, sword swallowers and ventriloquists are all to found as well.

 

Books run throughout the sale, both “how-to’s” and early histories of magic, beginning with the very rare 1584 first edition of Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft ($50,000–70,000). Also from Jay’s bookshelves are Alberti's 1747 I giochi numerici fatti arcani, with engraved plates illustrating sleight of hand tricks ($2,500–3,500); the Abbé Bellecour's Academy of Play (1768; $700–1,000); A. B. Engstrom's Humorous Magician Unmasked, which first explained how to produce a live rabbit from a borrowed hat (1836; $8,000–12,000); Philip Thicknesse's Speaking Figure and the Automaton Chess-Player Exposed and Detected (1784; $5,000–7,000); and extensive runs of cant dictionaries, various editions of the redoubtable conjuring guide Hocus Pocus; and numerous works describing the perils of gambling by J. H. Green.

 

Not lacking from the sale is material dealing with perhaps Ricky Jay’s favorite subject, Remarkable Characters. Learned pigs are here in abundance, as well as fireproof women, though fewer in number. George Anderson, the Living Skeleton, is here, as are Sarah Beffin, the armless artist; Stephen Bibrowski, who exhibited as Lionel the Lion-faced Boy; the Blazek and Hilton sisters; Tom Thumb and Edward Bright and many other little people and giants. But towering above them all—in Ricky Jay’s affections at least—is Matthias Buchinger, the “Little Man of Nuremberg.”

 

Despite being born without limbs, Buchinger became a gifted calligrapher, among many other accomplishments. The Jay collection of Buchinger, which was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2016, is without peer. Many of Buchinger’s largest and most intricate calligraphic works are present, including some really remarkable examples of micro-calligraphy. Contemporary engraved portraits and advertising handbills demonstrate the enormous fame achieved by Buchinger during his life, most of which was spent in Great Britain. Perhaps most notable among the many highlights in the Ricky Jay Collection is Buchinger’s own calligraphic family tree. Written on two overlaid sheets of paper, this is one the works that demonstrates Buchinger’s extraordinary skill with a knife or scissors as well as with a pen. Completed in 1734, and in the finest possible condition, this manuscripts records Buchinger’s four marriages and the birth dates and places of his fourteen children ($20,000–30,000).

 

The entire Sotheby’s catalogue of The Ricky Jay Collection can be found online: https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-catalogues/the-ricky-jay-collection

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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