KELLAR, Harry (Heinrich Keller, 1849 – 1922). Important and Revealing Eight-Page ALS to Harry Houdini. Written in Kellar’s trademark script on folded sheets of his engraved letterhead, the Dean of American magicians writes to Houdini recollecting many of the incidents earlier in his career. He first notes the other magicians who he played against in South American tours: “Carl Herrmann (the first of the Herrmanns) [and] “Alexander” a famous magician whom the people remembered even more than the elder Herrmann and who certainly left a lasting impression on the South American public.” The latter individual is undoubtedly Alexander Heimburger.

The bulk of the missive discusses incidents related to Kellar’s tours with, and the later careers of the celebrated Davenport Brothers, widely regarded as the first significant presenters of “spirit seances” on stage. Kellar worked with the Davenports and William Fay, who he describes as a “great manager: he did the Davenport rope trick and was always cool & collected no matter what happened on the stage – he was inclined to [be] very brusque at times especially when dealing with smart-allecks.” He also discussed their break-up as an act: “Wm. Fay left me in England after our shipwreck and re-joined the Davenport Bros. in London and made a rout of India, Australia & New Zealand with them returning to Sydney N.S.W. [where] Wm. Henry Harrison Davenport died. Fay then … engaged in the general store business and amassed a fortune.” Kellar also reveals that Fay, working together with Ira Davenport was not able to draw crowds the way the original act had done: “…they closed for want of support. Fay & Ira came to my theatre & occupied a box during my performance and saw a packed house.”

The last portion of the letter reveals a clever spoken code used by Kellar and his wife to secretly transmit information; Kellar relates how this code was used to mystify Fay and Mrs. Fay by revealing the serial number on both of their watches even though the Fays themselves did not know the digits engraved on the timepieces. Kellar goes so far as to write out the code for Houdini and make explanations of its working. He writes, “Mrs. Kellar & I had worked the silent through transmission act together for so many years that we absolutely understood each other by a breath or the slightest movement of the hand, head, or even a slight movement of the eye.

Boldly SIGNED (but smudged), “With best wishes, yours most sincerely, Harry Kellar.” Retaining the original mailing cover addressed in Kellar’s hand to Houdini at the Hotel St. Catherines, Santa Catalina Island, California, and bearing a postmark of Nov. 28 1919. A lengthy and important letter, and certainly among the most revealing we have offered for sale.