The Davenport Collection
- a growing resource on magic and entertainment history

Other Ephemera

This section includes all types of ephemera other than Posters & Showcards and Programmes & Handbills.

The collection is particularly rich in ephemera relating to the Davenports, the Maskelynes and Will Goldston.

Photograph of the L. Davenport & Co stand at the 1915 British Industries Fair

Photograph of the L. Davenport & Co stand at the 1915 British Industries Fair

We know that this photograph was taken at the 1915 B.I.F. because The Toy Trader and Exporter of Thursday 3 May 1951 published it as part of a look-back to the first B.I.F. at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington. Lewis Davenport is sitting within the stand. We do not know who the lady is. Hanging from the corner column of the stand are several catalogues with the Union Jack on the cover. This catalogue, item N1559, which is also illustrated here, shows that the flag was printed in colour and the message on the cover ‘All British Catalogue’ is entirely appropriate for the Fair. However, from the contents of the catalogue, it is doubtful that the message is entirely true.

The Jardine Ellis Ring on Stick Mystery

The Jardine Ellis Ring on Stick Mystery

With this ring the magician can perform a variety of tricks involved with getting the ring on or off a borrowed walking stick. The ring can be examined. This was a popular trick invented by Jardine Ellis, who died in 1923. The item was found in the Davenport Demon envelope, as illustrated. Complete with duplicated instructions.

Envelope from The Mago Sales Foundation, Italy, circa 2000

Envelope from The Mago Sales Foundation, Italy, circa 2000

The Mago Sales Foundation is a non-profit organization with a social purpose, founded in 2001. The President and Founder is Don Silvio Mantelli, a priest who, through magic, distributes smiles and solidarity to thousands of children around the world. His stage name is Mago Sales. www.sales.it.

Publicity roundel for JezO (Jeremy Bond), comedy magician

Publicity roundel for JezO (Jeremy Bond), comedy magician

Jez Bond is an award winning magician whose style combines high-energy magic and illusion with zany comedy. At the Blackpool Convention in March 2022 he won the competition for Family Entertainer of the Year. Jez is based in the Cambridge area but travels widely for shows and pantomime.

Davenport Collection website e-news #13, March 2022

Davenport Collection website e-news #13, March 2022

Click on Details if you would like to download a PDF of this e-news.
E-newsletters like this one are sent out four times a year, highlighting recent additions to the website. If you’d like to be added to the mailing list, please contact the curator.
The March 2022 issue included:
– the launch of the Films Category and the Davenport Film Collection YouTube Channel.
– Ali Bongo version of the Gozinta Box with a double load.
– “Humpty Dumpty” children’s paper tearing trick.
– Devant’s early performing career.
– the staying power of traditional toys and novelties.
– “Shanroy” Scenery from The Servais Le Roy Company.
– an 1889 letter from J.N. Maskelyne and an unresolved issue

To see all the other e-news, click on Website e-news.

9 May 1896 letter from J.N. Maskelyne to H. Evanion

9 May 1896 letter from J.N. Maskelyne to H. Evanion

The transcript of this letter is:
May 9 1896
Dear Sir
I have considered the question of purchasing your collection of Playing Cards and have decided not to do so. I may however hear of someone who would like such a collection, and if I do I will put the matter before him.
Yours very truly
J.N. Maskelyne
H. Evanion Esqr.

It would appear that this letter was once in the Jimmy Findlay Collection. Jim Hagy mentions in his book on Evanion that: ‘Findlay possessed in his collection a letter from Maskelyne to Evanion dated May 9, 1896 declining to purchase the latter’s playing card collection’. (Early English Conjuring Collectors: James Savren and Henry Evanion by James Hagy, Second Edition published in 2020 by Reginald Scot Books, Glenview, USA, page 72.) Jim’s excellent book is the place to go to for information on Evanion.

19 June 1889 letter from J.N. Maskelyne to H. Evanion

19 June 1889 letter from J.N. Maskelyne to H. Evanion

The transcript of this letter is:
June 19. 1889
Dear Sir
I shall be glad to inspect your collection a little later on. Just now I am exceedingly busy with machines for the Paris Exhibition.
I have much matter concerning androids.
Yours very truly
J.N. Maskelyne
H. Evanion Esq.

Maskelyne’s letter is to Henry Evanion, a major collector of paper ephemera, including much relating to magicians. For information on Evanion see Early English Conjuring Collectors: James Savren and Henry Evanion by James Hagy, Second Edition published in 2020 by Reginald Scot Books, Glenview, USA.

Some of the 1890-1891 Egyptian Hall programmes for the Maskelyne and Cooke shows include an advertisement for Maskelyne’s Mechanical Cashier & Book-Keeper on the back page. The example illustrated here is from Ref. no. N2012. According to the advertisement it ‘Beat all competitors at the Paris Exhibition, receiving the highest award given for cash registering apparatus’. The illustration includes the words ‘Silver Medal, Paris 1889’. It is likely that Maskelyne’s letter to Evanion refers to the work needed to prepare these machines for the Exhibition.

The curator of this website is currently trying to confirm that Maskelyne really did win the Silver Medal. This is necessary because J.N. Maskelyne’s claims cannot always be taken at face value. A search by the National Library of France confirmed that M. Maskelyne of Manchester did submit a cash register (details here) but was unable to find information relating to the medals awarded.

Four letters from G. Gordon Powell to David Devant in late 1892

Four letters from G. Gordon Powell to David Devant in late 1892

These four letters relate to a show that Devant put on at Balham Hall, south London, on the nights of 5 and 6 December 1892. Powell lent Devant some money to help finance the shows, but the venture made a loss and Powell lost some of his money. Whilst financially disappointing, the shows proved to be of great importance to Devant because it allowed his own illusion Vice Versa to be seen. This resulted in further work at the Crystal Palace and soon resulted in Devant’s first appearance in Maskelyne and Cooke’s entertainments at the Egyptian Hall. The story is told in the Davenport Collection website article David Devant’s first big illusion: Vice Versa by Anne Goulden. The article includes transcriptions of all four of these letters.

6 May 1892 letter to David Devant

6 May 1892 letter to David Devant

The letter is difficult to read, but appears to be:
33 Arthur Road
Holloway. N
6 May 1892

Dear Sir
I duly received yours of the 3rd inst. and regret to hear of your ill health and that you have been so unfortunate in business.
I do not like the idea of your hurry to dispose of your furniture for the purpose of paying your Accounts & the more particularly if the amount you owe me should have any weight in inducing you to adopt this course.
Can you not make me an offer and pay me a sum down in settlement of the whole thing.
I am sure that you no more than myself would care to have the matter dragging along but would prefer to have it settled once for all.
I hope you may be more fortunate in the future than you have apparently been lately.
Yours faithfully
?Ernest Walker

David Devant Esqre

Devant’s My Magic Life tells us that he suffered from rheumatic fever around this time. A bad bout of it stopped him performing at Christmas 1889, so losing the income from many shows and causing financial hardship. This could be the ill health that is mentioned in the letter.

In these early days of his career, Devant’s finances were not on a firm footing. Letters such as this one may have been all too familiar to him. Letters from his friend G. Gordon Powell (see N2639) are another example of his financial difficulties, this time from the failure of a show he was promoting.