American Magician Ricky Jay’s Collection Offers Chung Ling Soo Poster and Arcangelo Tuccaro Acrobatic Illustrations

Potter & Potter Auctions will offer The Ricky Jay Collection Part III this August. Chung Ling Soo’s 1912 half-sheet color stone lithograph, A Gift From the Gods, is among the featured lots. Soo was born in New York as William E. Robinson (1861 – 1918). He created a stage persona of a Chinese magician for his performances. He worked behind the scenes for Kellar and Herrmann before finding success and fame as a magician. During his last performance on stage at London’s Wood Green Empire in 1918, he was shot when his bullet-catching feat went wrong and died shortly after. In the offered lithograph, Soo stands on a huge hand, descending to Earth from a flurry of storm clouds. Of the dozens of posters designed for Soo’s use, this is perhaps the best-known and was later used as the title of a work regarding the many images used to advertise his magic shows. 

A rare book with illustrations of Tuccaro’s acrobatics will be offered in this Ricky Jay Collection Part III event. Arcangelo Tuccaro (1535 – 1602) was an Italian gymnastics instructor and tightrope walker. This work is widely recognized as one of the first-tier illustrated books of the Renaissance. The Trois Dialogues offers substantial details on theatrical dance during the late 16th century, and it represents the first printed work on floor exercises. The first Dialogue deals with Gymnastic exercises. The second contains several beautiful speeches about the jump called by the Ancients Cubistic. In the Third, there is ample discussion of the exercises that man can do. This book was published in 1599 by Claude de Monstr’oeil. It has a modern tan binding signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. The sale will offer more than 700 lots from Ricky Jay’s collection. View The Ricky Jay Collection Part III auction on Potter & Potter Auctions’ website, and find other online auctions by visiting Auction Daily.