JAY'S JOURNAL OF ANOMALIES

Complete run in the original imprint of Ricky Jay's exceptionally-produced periodical of "conjurers, cheats, hoaxters, pranksters, jokesters, impostors, pretenders, side-show showmen, armless calligraphers, mechanical marvels, [and] popular entertainments." bizzare, and eccentric individuals. The circus, the side shows, the freaks, the daredevils, the magicians, the London Fairs, Bartholomew Fair and their collection of off beat eccentrics. With the likes of P.T. Barnum and his collection of eccentrics, and the side shows, the Magicians, with the likes of Isaac Fawkes, Robert Houdin, Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser, the Herrmann's, Harry Houdini, etc. Profusely illustrated with drawings and posters, many in full color. A quarterly publication, written by Jay, drawn entirely from his own personal collection, and sumptuously printed by Patrick Reagh, JAY'S JOURNAL sought to be "[a]n anomaly devoted to anomalies." As he later wrote in the afterword to 2001 trade reprint of the journal: "The major catalyst [...] was the pursuit of a higher standard of illustration, type, and paper than the mainstream publishers of my earlier work were able to provide. I wished to do justice to materials collected over long years [...] The idea of a [...] fine-press book intrigued me less than a periodical with high production values - a magazine printed letterpress on mold-made paper, with tipped-in color illustrations" (163). A luxurious production devoted to the curious and issued in decidedly small runs, individual issues are uncommon and sets scarce. The provenance of this set would be the first original subscriber. The set includes annual renewal forms, original mailings envelopes, and an illustrated letterpress broadside announcement published by the Quantuck Lane Press of an exhibition of Jay's collection of magic-related broadsides from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.