> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # An Enthralling Collection of Magical Curiosities Heads to Sotheby’s - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-enthralling-collection-of-magical-curiosities-heads-to-sothebys/ - Published: 2021-10-20T20:31:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T16:21:39.000Z - Description: The legendary performer Ricky Jay amassed a collection of about 10,000 rare books, posters, and artwork about all things esoteric. - Author: Hakim Bishara - Tags: News, magic, Sotheby's, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1) In public memory, the late magician Ricky Jay is remembered as a sleight of hand virtuoso who could perform marvels with a deck of cards. His work is eternalized in numerous TV and film appearances, which often included shooting cards like darts at various objects, most famously a [halved watermelon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1ZGIN0UqJE&t=3s&ref=hyperallergic.com). But the legendary performer, who passed away in 2018, was also a renowned magic scholar who authored 11 books and amassed a collection of about 10,000 rare books, posters, and artwork about all things esoteric. On October 27, a portion of his vast collection will go on an [auctio](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection?ref=hyperallergic.com)[n at Sotheby's](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection?ref=hyperallergic.com), offering his fans a chance to hold possession of these enchanting items. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/ricky-jay--photo-jesse-dylan-1.jpg) Ricky Jay (photo by Jesse Dylan for Sotheby's ) The sale includes 634 lots of antique books, broadsides, handbills, and prints documenting centuries of magic, circuses, and more. Among the more eccentric items are several 17th-century broadsides advertising “learned animals,” like an "[accomplished horse](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/learned-animals-horses-an-early-playbill?ref=hyperallergic.com)" who could speak English, French, and Italian and a [card-playing pig](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/learned-animals-pigs-the-philosopher-of-the?ref=hyperallergic.com). Harry Houdini, the master of escape acts, features prominently in the collection with 1913-1915 posters promoting his "[Water Torture Cell](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/houdini-harry-erik-weisz-the-most-famous-dangerous?ref=hyperallergic.com)" stunt. Another poster from 1913, beautifully illustrated by famed German lithographer Adolph Friedländer, features a [stock levitation image](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/levitation-buy-the-poster-and-take-your-act-on-the?ref=hyperallergic.com) for magicians to use on the road. More standouts include a late 19th-century charming [tabletop game](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/acrobatics-a-charming-tabletop-game-featuring-a?ref=hyperallergic.com) featuring a moving trapeze artist and an "[automaton](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/wakeling-alan-ricky-jays-bespoke-automaton?ref=hyperallergic.com)," a mechanical doll with which Jay appeared on stage. And we would be remiss leave out an [1818 etching of Madame Giradelli](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-ricky-jay-collection/madame-giradelli-the-celebrated-fireproof-woman?ref=hyperallergic.com), also known as the "celebrated fireproof woman," who was famous for "passing a lighted candle under her arms, dropping sealing wax on her tongue, and cooking eggs 'fit for eating' while holding boiling oil in her hands," Sotheby's quotes from Jay's writings. Get a taste of this rare and fascinating collection of curiosities in the following selection of images. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/10706-lot-410-levitation-buy-the-poster-and-take-your-act-on-the-road.jpg) Adolph Friedländer's stock levitation illusion poster (1913) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/10706-lot-262-madame-giradelli-the-celebrated-fireproof-woman.jpg) Madame Giradelli, the "Celebrated Fire Proof Female" (London: W. Fores, 1818) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/n10706-lot-340-harry-houdini-houdini-upside-down-in-the-water-torture-cell.jpg) One of Erik Weisz's Harry Houdini posters (1913–1915) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/n10706-lot-613-alan-wakeling-ricky-jays-bespoke-automaton-1200x1200-crop-1.jpg) Ricky Jay's bespoke automaton ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/10706-lot-190-conjuring-earliest-recorded-edition-of-a-rare-work-1.jpg) "The Universal Conjurer" (1829), an advertisement promoting the magic acts of Famous Breslaw, Katterfelto, Jonas, Flockton, Comas, and the "Greatest Adepts" in London and Paris ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/10706-lot-2-acrobatics-a-charming-tabletop-game-featuring-a-moving-trapeze-artist-1200x1200-crop-1.jpg) Leotard, the Acrobat Sand Toy (Brown, Blondin, & Co., London, circa 1890s) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/10706-lot-98-after-pieter-the-elder-bruegel-the-fall-of-the-magician-hermogenes.jpg) Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "The Fall of the Magician Hermogenes" (1565) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/10/10706-lot-46-samri-s--and-miss-baldwin-samuel-spencer-baldwin-and-kitty-baldwin-where-are-my-pants.jpg) "The World's Greatest Psychic Sensation Samri S. and Miss Baldwin in Oriental Hypnotic Dream Visions," The White Mahatmas (Hartford: Calhoun Print, circa 1895)