[4 cuts of Powell's cremation illusion] – Vintage Print
![[4 cuts of Powell's cremation illusion], 1895 — antique engraving](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/82/82a71d41cd91-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
[4 cuts of Powell's cremation illusion] comes to life in this antique engraving, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.
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[4 cuts of Powell's cremation illusion]
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Four separate cuts show the stages of Powell's cremation illusion, printed across pages 3 and 4 of the June 1895 issue of *Mahatma*, a periodical for magicians. Illusions that appeared to consume a person in flame drew crowds in the late nineteenth century, when cremation was still a novel and contested practice in the United States and Britain, so the subject carried a topical edge. The record is drawn from an old caption card and has not been independently verified, so details of the method and the performer are best checked against the magazine itself. Read in sequence, the engravings show how a conjuring effect of the period was staged and presented to other magicians.
| Created / published | 1895 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : wood engraving or halftone. |
| Notes | Illus. in: Mahatma, 1895 June, p. 3 & 4. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: BI; Magic...; Advertisements. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,133 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-146800 |
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