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Title: Willard - A Life Under Canvas Author: David Charvet Description: 370 pages 11 by 8-1/2 inches Lavishly illustrated with 276 photographs, and 8 pages in full color. Limited to 1,000 numbered copies. Published 2008 Number 14 in our series of Magical Pro-Files Price: $85 (Deluxe Edition - $195) |
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Even before our expanded edition of Alexander: The Man Who Knows came out in 2007, David Charvet had started work on a biography of Willard the Willard. Considering we had the full cooperation of Harry Willard?s three grown children, Eugene, Madeline and Frances, it seemed like a straight-forward project. That project turned into an odyssey. The story of the four men who performed under the name Willard the Wizard reads like a roller coaster ride made up of triumphant highs and tragic lows. If you think you know the Willard story because you read David Charvet?s recent cover story in Magic magazine, you don?t know the half of it. Normally, to write a biography for our series of Magical Pro-Files, the author relies on old magazines, newspapers, letters, scrapbooks, photographs etc. to tell the story. We use those sources because that?s all we?ve got. But Eugene, Madeline and Frances spent many years during their youth traveling with and performing in their father?s show. Now we have access to not only what the audience saw on stage at the Harry Willard show, we also know what was happening backstage as well. Here is the ultimate behind the scenes story of a traveling tent show as told by those who lived it. Combining these firsthand accounts with David Charvet?s relentless research has produced a unique slice of magic history. Willard ? A Life Under Canvas is number 14 in our series of Magical Pro-Files. The book is 8.5 inches tall and 11 inches wide, hardbound on the short side. It contains 370 pages with 276 photographs and because the entire book has been printed in two colors, we were able to print many of the photos in duotone, giving them the feel of a hot, dusty tent show. Eight pages of full color show Willard in action along with some beautiful portraits of his well-worn apparatus. The tent-show feel continues with the printed endsheets and onto the binding with a canvas cloth on the front and back covers and Skivertex simulated leather on the spine. This edition is limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies. Price $85 plus $5 postage. DELUXE EDITION We don?t automatically produce a deluxe edition of our new books. There has to be a good reason and with the Willard book, we had a perfect reason. Here in Egyptian Hall Museum I have a large photograph of Harry Willard that was color tinted by hand. This beautiful image was placed outside the tent for publicity purposes. We have made small reproductions of this image and tipped one into each of the deluxe editions. This edition also features an extra page with a color photograph of our three contributors Eugene, Madeline and Frances Willard and each of them has signed this page along with author David Charvet. To complete the package, each book is housed in a slipcase covered with the matching tent canvas cloth and stamped with two colors. Only 150 copies of the deluxe edition have been produced and each one has been hand numbered. Price: $195 plus $5 postage. In order to accommodate as many of our faithful customers as possible, please, one copy per person. Peek inside Willard - A Life Under Canvas
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