Expert Cigarette Magic (1932, first edition)
With Demon's Head bookseller ticket from L Davenport
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
Undated [1932]. First edition. Hardback bound in black cloth with gilt titling to upper board. 24 × 15.5cm, 59pp.
Not signed but with the bookseller's label for L Davenport & Co's Devil Series pasted to the title page, featuring a demon's head in black against red. Founded in 1898 on New Oxford Street, Davenport's became the oldest family-run magic shop in the world.
A book of tricks involving cigarettes (lit and unlit; mostly involving disappearance), and illustrated with step-by-step photographs. The author, D Deveen (real name A W Parsons) was an expert at cigarette manipulation. He started on the stage in the early 1920s and went under various names including the Gay Deceiver, the Distinguished Deceiver and Devil Deveen.
Condition
Fair, a good reference copy. The covers are dulled, the inner binding a little weakened towards the end of the book but the main body of text in good readable condition.
Books are currently zero-rated for duty (as of January 2026), so the price shown is the price you pay.
Price
£15.00
