The Ricky Jay Collection

The Ricky Jay Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 164. Chung Ling Soo (William Ellsworth Robinson) | A gift from the Gods.

Chung Ling Soo (William Ellsworth Robinson) | A gift from the Gods

Auction Closed

October 28, 08:54 PM GMT

Estimate

18,000 - 25,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Chung Ling Soo (William Ellsworth Robinson)

A Gift from the Gods to Mortals on Earth to Amuse and Mystify. Chung Ling Soo. Birmingham: J. Upton Ltd., ca. 1912


Color lithograph poster (19 1/2 x 29 1/2 in.; 495 x 748 mm). Some short tears and tiny chips, chiefly marginal, some wrinkles, rebacked. Framed and glazed.


In this striking and scarce poster, Chung Ling Soo—the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer" who was a white American born in New York—descends through a thunderstorm to earth in the palm of God.


"Not a humble advertiser, [Robinson] graced scores of posters, but none was more powerful or cheekier than this appearance from the heavens" (Magic).


REFERENCE:

Exemplars, pp. 38–39; Magic, p. 22, passim; cf. CCC, pp. 104–05; cf. Steinmeyer, The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, aka Chung Lee Soo [sic] (2005)