Signed book: The Wanderings of a Spiritualist. Later printing. NY: George H. Doran Company, 1921. Hardcover with dustjacket, 6 x 8.5, 299 pages. Signed in ink on the title page, “Yours Sincerely, Arthur Conan Doyle,” right below an inscription to Beatrix Sherman, written in another hand. In very good condition, with uniform toning throughout, scattered darker areas and light foxing, hinge weak, but intact, light wear and spotting to boards, and an inscription on the first page which reads, “To be included in collection of silhouettes with the family group of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Beatrix Sherman.” Dustjacket is in good condition, with moderate, uniform toning and scattered soiling, the front of which is separated and held in place by a protective plastic covering, with scattered areas of paper loss around the edges.
Beatrix Sherman was the premiere silhouette artist of the 20th century. She learned how to cut paper by watching her mother scissor intricate designs for lace on paper. By 14, she was painting miniatures on ivory. In 1915, she began creating silhouettes professionally at San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition and by 1918 she was cutting them for Hollywood stars and presidents. She created two clippings for each sitter and had her well-known clientele autograph one silhouette for her to keep. While she maintained a permanent studio in Manhattan, she also operated a studio in Atlantic City in the summer months to take advantage of the wealthy tourist trade that had developed along the Boardwalk. It was there that she met Doyle.
In 1921, the creator of master detective Sherlock Holmes had just published the book The Coming of the Fairies about the Cottingley Fairies photographs, which were later exposed as a hoax. Doyle, who believed the photographs genuine, reproduced them in his book with theories about the nature and existence of spirits, including fairies. In 1922 he and his family were in America for a lecture tour on spiritualism and had arranged to meet Houdini and his wife Bess in Atlantic City for a séance that June, where Jean Conan Doyle felt she could contact the skeptical escape artist’s deceased mother. While in Atlantic City, Doyle sat for Sherman where she created his silhouette. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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