9/2007
There's no place like home- Now that we are "empty nesters," my wife and I took a trip to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. While I was unable to track down Houdini's baby shoes while in Budapest, we had a fascinating holiday nonetheless. On a whim, I called Magic Christian, Austria's well-known magician and magic historian, who very kindly invited us over that evening to see his outstanding collection. What started as a short visit continued several hours later at a restaurant for a wonderful Viennese dinner. I am so pleased to have made the acquaintance of this kind and scholarly kindred spirit. It was evident from his passion in sharing with us some of his research on the life of Johann Nepomuk Hofsinzer, that Christian has left no stone unturned in tracking down original source material regarding the life of this important figure in magic's history. With the upcoming publication of an English translation of his Hofzinser biography, those of us who are not fluent in German will be in for a treat
Vienna, by the way, is a bibliophile's dream, with numerous shops offering rare books and prints. After visits to a number of such shops, probably thwarted by my very marginal high school German, I found very little. Surprisingly, though, it was in Madrid, where we had an overnight layover before returning to the U.S., that I chanced upon a small shop near our hotel where I found a few vintage magic themed prints. As a couple are duplicates from my collection, you can see them in the Abracagraphics section of this website. Yes, my friends, I travel to these locales so that you don't have to. It's a nasty job, but someone's got to do it......
 The LA Conference On Magic History is set to begin on November 8, 2007. Having missed the only other known performance of the Hooker Card Rise in my lifetime – which was performed at an earlier LA Conference - I am looking forward to the upcoming weekend. These conventions, first and foremost, offer a chance to see old friends and to make new ones. And if I pick up a poster or two, that wouldn't be so bad either.
KT
5/2006
 MCA in DC is now a fading memory! Over this past April Fool’s Day weekend, we had a memorable time. Highlights for me were the unforgettable Library of Congress magic exhibit followed by a tour of the amazing building, Bob Sheets interview with Washington magic legend Al Cohen, the surprise eight minute manipulation act of Arthur Trace, Roxy on waters spouters, Charles Greene III on his dauntless Ionia research, Bill Kalush on his groundbreaking Houdini research, Michael Claxton’s well done talk on minorities in magic, Dick Hatch on Jews in magic followed by Werner Reich’s riveting presentation about his Holocaust experiences – Mark Mitton, Dean Arnold, Arthur Moses, Gabe Fajuri and more. Thanks to all those who made it a successful conference. The Library of Congress folks, especially, were stellar in every way. Next year in Chicago!
10/2005
Wow, maybe we should call this the Friedlander Gazette. A European collector friend has referred me to an amazing website of hundreds of incredible magic, circus, freak and other entertainment posters. Just for openers, I had never seen this wonderful Servais Leroy poster before. Click on it to travel to www.circusmuseum.nl.
Enjoy!
KT
9/2005
I first saw Jay Marshall perform some time in the early 1960’s, when he was one of the acts appearing in the Boston Magicale, an annual show produced by the local Society of American Magicians group, Assembly #9. I remember that his act included his unique hand puppet Lefty, Troublewit and the linking rings - and I went backstage after the show to get his and the other performers’ autographs. Hey, I was only about 12 at the time. In the years following, although I would see Jay perform on the Ed Sullivan Show and at many conventions, I never tired of watching his act. Working “in one,” before the curtain, he was the sophisticated professional, with a timeless quality that fit in as well in the 40’s night clubs, I am sure, as it did in the years that I saw him from the 60’s into the 90’s. In the more recent decades, I got to know Jay when I began attending the magic collector conventions in Chicago, New England and LA. His sometimes gruff exterior hid a warm and unpredictably irreverent man who had a tremendous love for things magical and those that peopled that quirky world. After we had become friends, I made a point of taking him to lunch when I was in Chicago for business. It was, as were most times spent with Jay, memorable. I will not soon forget his unpredictable bits of business - the impromptu “table crap”, his suddenly descending behind a podium as if he were standing on an elevator, or his performing a spontaneous display of hand shadows between the acts at a collectors’ show. He was both an encyclopedia of arcana and a walking vaudeville show. Jay Marshall passed away on May 10, 2005 at the age of 85 and will be greatly missed.
Another magic legend whom I first saw in the 1960’s was the great Silent Mora. Those from New England, will know that Boston’s chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians is named after this respected late performer. As a 14 year old member of the Silent Mora Ring, I was privileged to see Louis McCord, aka silent Mora, perform on the wonderful little stage in the back of John Booth’s church, where we had our monthly meetings. Watching him perform classic sleight of hand with charm and wit was truly a link to another age. Fast forward some 40 years and I get an email from a man in California who wants to buy a poster of Silent Mora that he saw on my website. You see, this fellow is Mora’s grandson, and he wants to give the poster to his 94 year old mom as a gift. Well, now you know why my lone Silent Mora poster, which will continue to adorn the Trade section of this website, is now out of circulation.
G-day mate! There I was in a hotel room in Las Vegas, attending the annual Magic Collectors’ convention this past spring. I had left a lecture on Les Levante and Maurice Rooklyn, two Australian magicians, to bid by telephone on a bunch of old magic posters in an auction several time zones away in Sydney Australia. Coincidence? I think not. Apparently an Aussie who worked in a theatre at the turn of the century had accumulated a wonderful cache of posters and other memorabilia –including scarce images of Maskelyne and Cooke, Chung Ling Soo, Carter the Great and Houdini. which his heirs decided to sell. Judging from the low bid estimates, I imagine that the consignors were a bit blown away when they learned of some of the prices that were reached in this no reserve auction.
Speaking of conventions of magic collectors, the 37th Magic Collectors’ Weekend will be, for the first time, in Washington DC. We are planning an activity-filled weekend for March 30 - April 1. Okay, so the hotel where it will all be happening is not technically in DC, but in Rosslyn, VA, just a stone’s throw across the Key Bridge. But, as we say in our nation’s capitol “it’s close enough for government work.” Those who have attended past conferences know that these gatherings are a chance to hear interesting speakers on subjects of interest to magic history devotees (in past years, everything from a Power Point presentation on “wee books” with a magical theme to highlights of traveling with the Blackstone show), to have the chance to purchase vintage magic collectibles in the amazing dealer’s room, and to spend a few days with kindred spirits – not necessarily in that order. If you wish to attend but are not a member, you will need to remedy that deficiency by joining the MCA, so click here for an application, and you will be well on your way. The weekend will be dedicated to the memory of Jay Marshall, who started the whole mess (as he would have put it) back in Chicago, almost four decades ago. We promise varied and interesting presentations, as well as other fun and surprises, all of which I am sure Jay would have relished.
KT
11/2004
This day just stopped being productive. That is the thought that went through my mind when I learned that the catalog for the auction of Christian Fechner's European magic posters had gone on line; vintage posters and engravings, antique apparatus, objets d'art with a magic theme etc went to auction in Paris, France in June of this year. Had my oldest son's high school graduation not precluded me from personally attending, I would, I am sure, have immensely enjoyed the event - not to mention the chance to add to my own collection. I did, through a friend, acquire one poster, an interesting Robelly. Roughly a half sheet, I had always liked the image since first seeing it in the catalog for the Findlay collection at Sotheby's in the early 80's (a publication otherwise known as "my want list". Although but a portion, albeit a sizeable one, of M. Fechner's collection, the recent items for sale truly constituted a catalogue of European magic posters from the 19th and 20th centuries. My admiration and support go out to Christian Fechner. He has bestowed upon us a gift in making these items available to the magic community, and he should be applauded and admired. Between his writing, inventing, performing and collecting - he has contributed much to the world of magic. I wish him all the best in the future.
A few stock answers, please. In my endless search for interesting magic poster images that I have not seen before, I recently acquired this half sheet litho printed by Great Western Litho company. Unfortunately, it is missing a couple of pieces, especially at the top. So, if any of you out there in cyber-space have a copy - or even a photograph - of this poster, I would be grateful if someone could email me the complete image. Thanks.
I have added some new posters to the site that you can now purchase. A couple of them do not belong to me, but are owned by a friend, for whom I have agreed to list them. Should you have an item that you would like to consign for sale, feel free to contact me. And thank you for visiting this site. I appreciate the support of both old and new friends who tell me that they stop here on a regular basis. Happy Fall.
KT
8/2003
Has it really been over a year since I last updated this website? Why is it that I don't get around to updating until the summer months, you ask. Hey, if you lived in the Washington DC area, you wouldn't want to do much more on a sweltering July day than sit in air conditioned comfort at the computer. In any event, my apologies for the delay that has preceded this update. In the future, I will try to tweak things more frequently. Really. So help me Russell Morgan. At a minimum, anyway, I will occasionally add items to the BUY/TRADE sections on a piecemeal basis without prior fanfare or notice - so you have been warned.
Do you have a particular poster or other collectible that really pushes your buttons? Is there a collecting holy grail for you? For me, ever since I first laid eyes on Christopher's Panorama of Magic, it has been a simple Kellar levitation poster - the one with the dark blue background and the lightning bolts coming from Kellar's fingers. Finally, after years of attempted trades and a few times when it seemed to be almost in my grasp, I recently landed one. It is the half sheet version with the older version of the lettering, not the "Kellar" at an angle with which we are so familiar. So, here it is in all its magical glory, to be enjoyed by all. Now, if I could only find the version of Kellar's levitation with the moorish arch.............
Market Watch
Well, some might call it "irrational exuberance" but the last couple of months saw serious magic poster activity on ebay. Between May and June of this year, a Strobridge "Mantle of Magic" one sheet (!), an 1890 Kellar's Wonders, and a killer Houdini milk can escape poster precipitated some awfully high bidding on ebay. Yes, the Houdini did not meet its reserve, but didn't the bidding get up into some serious numbers !? Although perhaps more a function of desirability of these particular images than a harbinger of price inflation generally, these sales (the two Kellars sold) may have signaled us that magic poster values, and perhaps our sluggish economy, are coming out of the doldrums.
A Poster Road Trip!
Actually, the DC heat is reminiscent of what I encountered in the spring of last year when my work took me to Austin, Texas for a couple of days. Fortunately. the business part of things was concluded sooner than expected, so I was able to spend the good part of an afternoon at a place I had often heard about and always wanted to visit. No, not the OK corral, or the infamous tower at the University of Texas, but the U. of T's Harry Ransom Center for the Humanities. This wonderful building houses numerous collections, including a wealth of posters and broadsides that once belonged to Harry Houdini. The collection, which is particularly strong in 19th century broadsides - some bearing notations in Houdini's hand along the margins - also has a significant cache of photos, challenges and other HH ephemera as well.
When I phoned a couple of days in advance to make arrangements for a possible visit, I was told by the very helpful librarian that they are rarely visited by persons desiring to view the magic posters. In fact, when I called during the morning that preceded my afternoon visit, I was informed that the librarian was, as we were speaking, encapsulating for the first time some of the items contained within folders that I had requested the day before for viewing. It was thrilling to sift through a portion of them, as but a small sampling could be viewed in the few hours time that I had to spend there - and time really does go fast when you are having fun. Just so that you can share in the fun, click here to see a poster that you don't exactly see every day. I look forward to a future visit to Austin in order to take in more of the pleasures that the Ransom Center offers, and suggest that you do the same.
Since the last update of this site, I have sold or traded a number of items that were previously offered. So you may see that some things have disappeared. But take heart; I have added a few new items as well. Please do keep in mind that items for sale are always available for trade - and that I will consider offers for items on the trade list, although trades are preferred. So until next time, you'all come back now, you hear?
KT
8/2002
And a happy August to you! How better to beat the summer doldrums than to go for a nice walk in the woods. Okay, maybe it is not quite like a day at the beach, but it is a great excuse to unroll a classic Kellar half sheet by our good friends over at Strobridge.
In answer to those who have asked me if I will consider cash offers for the items listed for trade, the answer is, "yes, depending on the poster." So, if you see a trade item and want to make me an offer, go ahead. I promise that I will not be offended. And finally, this is also a not so subtle reminder that I am very interested in purchasing collections of magic posters and related memorabilia, and would be grateful to hear from you if you are looking to sell a collection, or simply trying to prune things down a bit. End of commercial.
By now, you have probably purchased your cache of Houdini stamps. The specimen at the left is an especially rare one. Can you see why? First correct email answer receives an original item of HH ephemera.
If you missed it last time around, keep reading this and - three paragraphs down - you will reach a link that will take you to a useful article on window cards, written exclusively for this site by none other than Gabe Fajuri..........Well, I hope that you enjoy the updated site. In these sometimes difficult times, it helps to have interests to which we can turn that offer us a momentary escape. Hopefully, this site will occasionally serve as an entertaining diversion for you.
KT.
2/2002
Kudos to Glen Gold, whose Carter Beats the Devil (Hyperion, 2001) has garnered awesome reviews! After I put the book aside so that I could savor it when I had some leisure time, I finally read it over the December holiday - and what a pleasure it was! Glen designs his plot like a magician lays the groundwork for a clever trick, with subtle twists that set you up for one surprise after another. And if you are interested in magic and its history, you will especially enjoy this novel novel. Having been so inspired by a window card as to write a book, adopt the title of the window card as the title of the book and utilize the window card's design on the dust jacket (at least on the U.S. edition), perhaps Glen's next book will be inspired by a magic poster. How about, "The Mighty Cheese?" After you read Carter Beats the Devil, try The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Picador USA, 2001), by Michael Chabon. It has plenty of magic in it, and is also an engrossing read.
And, just as the window card inspired Carter Beats the Devil, a classic poster has inspired the artwork for the long overdue Houdini stamp, which will be released at the Society of American Magicians convention in New York City in July, 2002, to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of the SAM. The artwork is taken from a fantastic Strobridge poster that collectors call "Houdini for President," as it is reminiscent of a campaign poster. For Houdini fanatics such as myself the announcement of the stamp is tremendously exciting, and the culmination of years of lobbying and letter writing. How long from the time these are issued to the time that you see them on sale on eBay as "rare" items? Probably not too long, I suspect.
Gabe Fajuri, an up and coming magic collector, is also one of the more prolific authors on the magic history and collecting scene today. We are pleased that he has contributed an excellent article on collecting window cards. To be magically transported to this article, you need but to click on the window card to the right. We are fortunate that this recent University of Michigan graduate's talents and interests assure his active participation in the field of magic collecting for many years to come.
Well, that's it for now. If you have not visited this page before, we invite you to keep on reading. A bit further down, you will find a link to frequently asked questions about magic posters that will hopefully be of assistance to some ...... Meanwhile, send your suggestions, URLs for new links that might enhance the site, and ideas for more articles!
KT
11/2000
So, why another website? After procrastinating for a couple of years I have finally gotten off my duff and launched a website about my collecting passion. To those who are familiar with the increasingly elusive stone lithographs from magic's "Golden Age", the Strobridge moniker requires no explanation.
To those who are new to the world of vintage magic posters, the title is intended - like the imps offering obeisance in one of Kellar's glorious levitation posters - to pay homage to the Cincinnati lithography house that produced posters (not just magic posters, but circus, theatre and other categories) considered by many to be among the most beautiful.
This site will, hopefully, offer occasional tips or insights to the advanced collector - while providing answers to basic questions for the tyro, as he/she begins the journey into this fascinating area. That said, let's begin with some frequently asked questions about magic posters, which you can reach by clicking on our friendly little poster imp to the right.
Wuzzzuppppppppppp? As I write this, the sale of the David Price collection is still recent news. I first came to know the now late David Price in the 1970's, when I found one of his small ads in Genii Magazine. As a then 20 something student performing magic semi-professionally, I had earlier become attracted to the magic posters in Milbourne Christopher's wonderful Panorama of Magic , later republished as Magic: A Picture History (Dover), the pages of which I had cut out as a teenager and taped to the walls of my basement "magic den." David would sell duplicates from his amazing collection. I still have a couple of his lists, which I will scan and reproduce for you, if there is enough interest.
I was fortunate to obtain a few items from David over the years, and one of the posters, which I present for your viewing pleasure, is a fine example of the lithography of the same Strobridge of which we spoke earlier. The litho, often referred to as the "Golliwog Balls", depicts a fantastic nether world into which Harry Kellar apparently descended between shows. Yes, it is a wondrous poster. Multiply that by a couple thousand and you get a sense of David's collection.
In 1997 I felt that it was finally time to accept David's open invitation to visit, and took my oldest son (then 10) to Nashville, for a long overdue journey to this Mecca for magic collectors - David's incredible, absolutely mind-numbing, knee-knocking collection of stone lithographs, broadsides, scrapbooks, ephemera etc (partly a collection of collections, and partly the gatherings, piece by piece, of the remnants of magic's past). It held too many riches to be fully appreciated in that one visit, but that was to be the only one.
During that brief southern sojourn, I finally got to meet David, as well as his wonderful wife Virginia, and his witty and knowledgeable son, Dave. Despite some physical infirmities that limited David's ability to stand, and, by that time, his ability to spend more than a couple of hours with me at a time (and I later felt guilty about persuading David to extend that time, much to Virginia's chagrin), it was a truly unique experience for both me and my son - and I shall always remember it with special fondness.
In reflecting on David's collection, which was never consigned to a staid museum or packed away in a warehouse, I am reminded of a quote emailed to me by my late collector friend, Joel Miller, from the book, Utz by Bruce Chatwin, (Penguin Books, 1999);
"An object in a museum case must suffer the de-natured existence of an animal in a zoo. In any museum the object dies -- of suffocation and the public gaze -- whereas private ownership confers on the owner the right and need to touch. As a young child will reach out to handle a thing it names, so the passionate collector, his eye in harmony with his hand, restores to the object the life-giving touch of its maker. The collector's enemy is the museum curator. Ideally, museums would be looted every fifty years, and their collections returned to circulation."
By the way, this book was made into a movie, which will be especially appreciated by those of the collecting persuasion. It is worth a visit to Blockbuster.
I do hope that you find this website useful - and invite you to contact me with your input, suggestions and opinions. I would be delighted if someone might have an article or essay to offer, and am as close as the "send" button on your computer!
Yours in Bavarian limestone*,
Ken Trombly
*Bavarian limestone was widely used for creating stone lithos a century ago. But you knew that. Right?
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