Fawkes, [Isaac] | A scarce and important early broadside in the history of magic performance

Fawkes, [Isaac]

Fawkes at his Theatre, In James-street near the Hay-Market. [London: ca. 1729]

Letterpress broadside playbill (149 x 159 mm). Woodcut of the Royal coat of arms, engraving and letter shown on verso in second matted window; not examined out of frame. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas. 

Fawkes was the most famous magician of his time: he garnered a significant amount of attention in contemporary newspapers and books, attaining celebrity status in the early decades of the eighteenth century. His first recorded performance dates to the 1722 Southwark Fair, though seemingly his fame as a performer had been well established by this point. Fawkes was one of the earliest conjurors to break out of the traditional fairground circuit — performing year-round alongside other fashionable London entertainments. 

The present playbill, one of as few as three surviving broadsides relating to Fawkes, presents a colorful description of Fawkes's conjuring repertoire: "First, His Surprizing and Incomparable DEXTERITY OF HAND .. Second, a curious MUSICAL CLOCK ... [that] imitates the Melodious Notes of various kinds of Birds, as real life ... Third, another fine CLOCK or MACHINE, call'd Arts Masterpiece, or the Venetian Lady's Invention ..." 

A scarce and important early broadside in the history of magic performance

REFERENCE:

Exemplars, p 16.; EE, pp. 26-27