Willard: A Life Under Canvas
Pasadena, California: Mike Caveney's Magic Words, 2008.
Deluxe, Slip-Cased Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Deluxe, slip-cased edition limited to 150 copies, this being number 71. Signed by David Charvet and Frances, Madeline, and Eugene Willard. 9" X 11 3/8". 370pp. Quarter-bound in bonded brown leather with light brown tent canvas cloth over boards, and upper board and spine lettered in bronze. Light shelfwear, if any, to binding. Binding is firm and sound. Pages are clean and unmarked. Tipped in reproduced photograph of Harry Willard. Slipcase bound in same light brown tent canvas cloth, with Willard the Wizard seal in black and title in bronze to one side. A very presentable signed and limited deluxe edition of this full presentation of the story of the men who performed under the name Willard the Wizard penned by magic designer David Charvet with help from Harry Willard's three children, fourteenth in Magic Words' series of Magical Pro-files.
This book is oversize and will require additional postage to ship internationally; please contact us for a quote.
ABOUT WILLARD: A LIFE UNDER CANVAS:
The story of the four men who performed under the name Willard the Wizard reads like a roller coaster ride made up of triumphant highs and tragic lows. Working closely with author David Charvet were Harry Willard's grown children, Eugene and Frances, who spent many years during their youth traveling with and performing in their father's show. David had access to not only what the audience saw on stage at the Harry Willard show, but also what was happening backstage. This is the ultimate behind the scenes story of a traveling tent show as told by those who lived it. Combining these firsthand accounts with David relentless research has produced a unique slice of magic history.
Willard – A Life Under Canvas is number 14 in our series of Magical Pro-Files. It contains 370 pages with 276 photographs and because the entire book has been printed in two colors, we were able to print many of the photos in duotone, giving them the feel of a hot, dusty tent show. Eight pages of full color show Willard in action along with some beautiful portraits of his well-worn apparatus.
The tent-show feel continues with the printed endsheets and onto the binding with a canvas cloth on the front and back covers and Skivertex simulated leather on the spine.
DELUXE EDITION: We don't automatically produce a deluxe edition of our new books. There has to be a good reason and with the Willard book, we had a perfect reason. Here in Egyptian Hall Museum there is a large photograph of Harry Willard that was color tinted by hand. This beautiful image was placed outside the tent for publicity purposes. We have made small reproductions of this image and tipped one into each of the deluxe editions. This edition also features an extra page with a color photograph of the contributors including Eugene and Frances Willard and each of them has signed this page along with author David Charvet. To complete the package, each book is housed in a slipcase covered with the matching tent canvas cloth and stamped with two colors. Only 150 copies of the deluxe edition have been produced and each one has been hand numbered. (publisher). Near fine. Item #6310
ISBN: 0915181398
Price: $350.00