Servais Le Roy: Monarch of Mystery with Additional Ephemera
Pasadena, California: Mike Caveney's Magic Words, 1999.
Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Signed and inscribed by Mike Caveney and William Rauscher to previous owner and dated 1999 to title page. Edition limited to 1000 copies, this being number 136. Additional ephemera laid in: reproduction Le Roy, Talma & Bosco publicity handbill (1905), Le Roy, Talma & Bosco promotional folder from (1915), a Percy Naldret poem about Talma produced compliments of author William Rauscher, and two color post cards associated with this book. 11 3/4" X 9 1/4". 320pp. Light cover wear to pictorial dust jacket. Bound in full slate gray cloth, with upper board and spine lettered in gilt. Light shelfwear, if any, to binding. Binding is firm and sound. Pages are clean and unmarked. Illustrated throughout, including 28 posters reproduced in full color. A very presentable limited edition, signed by both authors, of this full presentation of the work of the Belgian magician and illusion designer Servais Le Roy, eighth in Magic Words' series of Magical Pro-files.
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ABOUT SERVAIS LE ROY: MONARCH OF MYSTERY:
As a performer and inventor of magic and illusions, Servais Le Roy had no peer. Harry Houdini praised him, Howard Thurston feared him and Harry Kellar called him the most finished artist he had ever seen.
Mrs. Le Roy, known around the world as Talma: The Queen of Coins, was often compared to that great sleight-of-hand expert, T. Nelson Downs, and the rotund Leon Bosco induced gales of laughter by switching the heads on two living birds. Together, as Le Roy, Talma and Bosco – The Comedians de Mephisto, they produced a full evening of magical entertainment unlike anything the world had ever seen.
This is the story of their rise to fame starting with Le Roy’s early visits to Egyptian Hall in London with his boyhood friend David Devant, his first success in England’s music halls and American vaudeville during the 1890s, and finally, international fame as a recognized star of the Variety stage.
During Le Roy’s amazing life he rubbed shoulders (and did battle) with many of the biggest names in show business. Drawing on a number of primary sources including William Rauscher’s long friendship with Le Roy’s chief assistant Elizabeth Ford, Le Roy’s previously unpublished notebook and on years of dedicated research, the authors were able to include previously unpublished illusion secrets, Le Roy’s inspirational rise to international fame and finally, his catastrophic final performance and heartbreaking demise.
If you enjoyed Mike Caveney’s biography on Carter the Great and William Rauscher’s book on The Great Raymond, you won’t want to miss Servais Le Roy – Monarch of Mystery.
The book measures 9 by 11-1/2 inches, contains 28 posters reproduced in full color, over 150 rare photos and drawings and is protected by a beautiful color dust jacket. 320 pages. An incredible production value. Near fine / very good +. Item #6312
ISBN: 0915181339
Price: $400.00