To our knowledge the contents of this partnership agreement have remained confidential until now. The parties to the agreement were J.N. and Nevil Maskelyne (the Maskelynes) and David Devant. Devant was managing partner. The Maskelyne and Cooke Provincial Company made annual tours of Great Britain from 1899 to 1905. The Entertainment Bureau supplied high class entertainments for many years. There is much of interest in the partnership agreement and Anne’s article is a useful summary.
This magically themed bar was at Le Meridien hotel, Piccadilly, London. It was very close to the site of the Egyptian Hall on Piccadilly, where Maskelyne and Cooke presented magic shows for many years.
Copyright 1995 by Redstone Press, London. The description on the back of the box reads: ‘Here is an enchanting box of surprises, drawn from the fascinating and hyperbolical history of magic and conjuring. Open the box to discover an astounding compendium of rare graphics and picture cards, amazing tricks and illusions, jugglings and jokes.’ That description is about right. Compiled by Daniel Stashower.
This is an interesting advertising application of the magic square. As it says on the label: Each row, each column and each diagonal adds up to 60, the average contents of each box. Made in Sweden.
At The Magic Circle Collectors’ Day in 1996 there was a sale of some of Tommy Cooper’s possessions. The proceeds went to The Magic Circle Headquarters Fund and the Grand Order of Water Rats. This pack consists of several items: a walkerprint postcard with Tommy’s caricature, a Tommy Cooper stamp, a card trick, and a ball point pen which has on it a caricature of Tommy and the words STOLEN FROM TOMMY COOPER.
Anne Goulden has used private letters from Charles Glenrose to Claude Chandler to paint a picture of the 1922 season in Aberystwyth. The letters provide an insight that would never be obtained from contemporary printed material. Despite Glenrose’s hope and optimism, it was a tough season.
Many of the Maskelyne items in the Davenport Collection were made for public consumption: programmes, publicity material, printed books, and so on. One of our shelves is occupied by books which were always intended to be private. They are the surviving business records of the Maskelynes at St George’s Hall.
The purpose of this article is to record the scope of these business records and provide examples of their content.
This was a gift from Paul Kieve in 2003, following a visit he made to the Davenport Collection. He was reminded about Magritte’s painting as a result of seeing Peter Warlock’s painting also illustrated here, Ref. no. N232.
The subject matter is mainly puzzles, optical illusions or magic. Two illustrative pages are shown, along with the album itself.
All attendees were given a box like this, although the contents might vary between boxes. The contents all related to aspects of the first 100 years of the Davenports business and included the programme for the weekend.
