Jan 23, 2014 - Sale 2337

Sale 2337 - Lot 16

Price Realized: $ 1,062
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
A MIX OF MAGIC AND FANTASY MAHLON BLAINE.
Brown pen-and-ink drawing of a naked genie escaping her bottle. Drawn as frontispiece in Hashish and Incense by Paul Verlaine, Inscribed and Signed to Joseph Dunninger. Additional signed frontispiece and numerous unsigned erotic illustrations by Blaine. 8vo, original cloth and patterned paper, moderate surface wear; iridescent endpapers, front hinge split. (New York): The Paul Verlaine Society, 1929.

Additional Details

number 14 of only 50 copies extra illustrated, specially bound, and signed by blaine. This copy with the extra illustration inscribed and signed by blaine to his friend and patron, the famous magician and mentalist joseph dunninger. Both men were cult figures in the circles of magic, mystery, science fiction and fantasy, most prominently in New York City. Blaine illustrated several of Dunninger's books and painted several commissioned works for him. "The Amazing Dunninger" performed for Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and appeared on radio and television, even inspiring Soupy Sales and Johnny Carson to base humorous characters on him.