Between the Covers

Softcover. Bound, broken run of 33 issues of the monthly periodical for the Chicago Assembly of the Society of American Magicians. Founded in August, 1919, it is also called Assembly #3 because it was founded after those in New York and Philadelphia. The majority of the volume consists of a consecutive 29-issue run, from February 1949 to June 1951 (Vol. 7, No. 8 – Vol. 9, No. 12). Also bound in are one earlier issue (September 1948), and three later issues (two from 1952 and one from 1955). Folio. Measuring approximately 8¾" x 14¼". The final two issues are three pages, but the others range from four to seven, averaging between five and six pages: 174 pages total, mimeographed rectos only. Issues are individually side-stapled and bound together with string, with plain paper covers. Old folds for mailing, edgewear and intermittent staining, occasional tears and modest loss, a couple of leaves with larger tears or loss (seriously affecting the text of only a single paragraph) two leaves amateurly backed onto plain paper, one issue with notes penciled verso, sound and near very good.

A substantial run of the mimeographed monthly periodical of the Chicago the Society of American Magicians. Covering the presidency of three magicians (Harlan Tarbell [author of the *Tarbell Course in Magic*], Paul M. Siegel, and magic manufacturer Edward O. Drane), each issue prints messages from the president and secretary, "gossip" about members (i.e. goings on), and meeting recaps. Issues also dedicate several pages to Assembly history, mostly from the 1920s, compiled by Arthur H. Anderson. The editor, Hermann Homar, was a Kansas native who settled in Chicago and performed as "The Wizard of the West." An interesting snapshot of a vibrant, mid-Century magic community, with throwbacks to the generation before. Issues are very uncommon; *OCLC* locates issues only at Berkeley and a collection of later issues at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Item #617922