Charlier. Monogram of Professor Hoffmann, Drawn by the Magician Charlier. Circa 1875. Being a pencil sketch monogram of the initials ?A.J.L? (Angelo John Lewis, birth name of Professor Hoffmann), drawn by enigmatic magician Charlier. The large capital letters arranged inside a circle of Latin text, and with marginal notes including the statement, ?Sketch not finished? and ?please take great care of design.? With a second and similar design on the reverse, bearing more ornamentation and the phrase, ?poverty is the nurse of arts.? On a single sheet of thin paper, 7 ? x 7 3/16". Original heavy folds; fragile. Accompanied by typed notes (one signed) stating that the ?original monograms were presented to Dr. Evans by Prof. Hoffmann.?, a typed and signed biography of Charlier by Evans, and an ALS from Evans to Thomas Worthington describing the history of the monogram. Said to be one of, if not the only, surviving document in Charlier?s hand. In More Magic, Hoffmann declared Charlier to be the ?greatest of living card experts,? yet few details of the magician?s life are known. He is remembered in the fraternity for his Charlier Pass, and also devised a method of marking cards via pinpricks. It was said that Charlier gave but one public performance, in 1882, spoke as many as nine languages fluently, and was also a card sharp.