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

Henry Bate

Letter from Henry Bate to Devant concerning Box Trick

Letter from Henry Bate to Devant concerning Box Trick

Bate wrote this letter to Devant on old notepaper from the 1890s when he was known as Harry Bate, MYSTIFICATEUR. It confirms that Bate supplied conjuring apparatus to the wholesale and retail trade as well as providing entertainments and lessons in sleight of hand.

Letter from Henry Bate to Devant concerning Box Trick

Letter from Henry Bate to Devant concerning Box Trick

Henry Bate, Devant’s illusion builder, is writing to Devant in Aberdeen about a box trick. Devant had to return it to Bate because of a problem, which Bate says he has now resolved. A transcript of the first page is: Dear Mr Devant, Box duly arrived, you were quite right, the awful jerking on Rail had simply misplaced a part of the mechanism, nothing was either broken or out of order. I have placed with other papers, in Box, a full explanation of what occurred and the means taken to prevent it in future. I hope you will understand exactly what I mean. I feel certain everything is quite safe now. I want you to examine . . .

Receipted invoice from Henry Bate to Devant, 1903

Receipted invoice from Henry Bate to Devant, 1903

Henry Bate, David Devant’s illusion builder, charged him for work on the Barrel Illusion which Bate had to ship to Glasgow. At the time Devant was performing in Glasgow with the Maskelyne and Cooke Mysteries Provincial Company. Note the wide range of business activities listed by Bate in the top left corner of his letterhead.