$6,500
[Fox Sisters] Houdini’s own file of Fox sisters memorabilia, including a one-page ALS from Margaret Fox Kane. Widely acknowledged as the founders of the modern spiritualism movement, Margaret Fox and her sisters Kate and Leah began hearing “spirit rappings” in their Hydesville, New York home in 1848. Offered here is an archive of documents solicited by Houdini from the Underhill Society of Brooklyn, and which describe details of the Fox sisters’ births and deaths and final resting places, as well as drawings of the monument under which two of the sisters now rest. Included in the archive are hand written documents, ALSs, mailing covers addressed to Houdini, post cards, an 11-page typescript copy of Margaret Fox Kane’s 1889 recantation of her expose of spiritualism, a facsimile photograph of the sisters, and a one-page undated ALS boldly signed by Margaret Fox Kane. These documents were undoubtedly integral to the writing of Houdini’s landmark work, A Magician Among the Spirits. Fox sisters memorabilia is exceedingly difficult to locate, and letters by any of the sisters, all of whom died before 1900, have never been offered at public auction before.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2013-02-02
