?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
BETHUNE, THOMAS 'BLIND TOM.' Coming, The Great Musical Prodigy of the Age!. . . Blind Tom. Large and elaborate theatre poster, 27 x 9-1/2 inches with center engraved vignette of Tom seated at the piano (5 x 7-1/2 inches), printed in a wide variety of fonts of different size; faint creases where folded; some very light wear along the edges; small closed tear. Matted and framed. Cincinnati, 1874
A magnificent pictorial theatre broadside for one of Blind Tom's concerts. At this point in Tom's career he had developed a number of special parts to his act, in addition to simply playing the piano—which to many was a wonder unto itself. Tom had devised a number wherein he would face away from the keyboard and play a complex piece backward. This means that what ever the left hand would normally be playing, the right would now play, and vice versa. Also, Tom would sing operatic pieces in German, French and English.
