$1,000
LeRoy, Servais (Jean Henri Servais LeRoy). Leroy Talma Bosco. The Great Decapitation Mystery. Hamburg, Adolph Friedlander, 1914. Half-sheet (16 ¾ x 25 ½") color lithograph bearing a full-length portrait of LeRoy, who holds a platter aloft in one hand. On the platter rests Bosco's head. Lacks borders, and some minor restoration. Linen backed. Belgian-born LeRoy is regarded as one of the most inventive and artistic magicians of his generation. He invented, among other stage illusions, the Asrah levitation, a classic feat still performed by modern conjurers. LeRoy performed with his wife, Mercedes Talma (Mary Ford) and the comedian Bosco, as The Comedians de Mephisto Co., as advertised in this lithograph. Bosco was played by no less than nine different actors and magicians. According to LeRoy's biographers, Mike Caveney and William Rauscher, "Harry Houdini praised him, Howard Thurston feared him and Harry Kellar called him the most finished artist he had ever seen."
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2011-03-26
