Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

The Ricky Jay Collection

Sat, Feb 25, 2023 12:00PM EST
Lot 79

COLBURN, Zerah (1804 -39). Zerah Colburn. London: Henry Mey...

Estimate: $500 - $1,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
COLBURN, Zerah (1804 -39). ZerAh Colburn. London: Henry Meyer, 1813. Full-length stipple-engraved portrait of the lightning calculator and child prodigy, ?From a drawing by T. Hull Esq. in the possession of F Baily, Esq.? holding a battledore and shuttlecock. 15 x 13?. Margins scuffed and skinned, old mounting tape, else good. This image was used as the frontispiece to Colburn?s Memoir in a much smaller format. Rare; the first example we have encountered. The caption below the likeness well summarizes Colburn?s miraculous nature: ?A child just eight years of age endowed with the remarkable faculty of solving a great variety of arithmetical questions by the operation of his mind.? Below the caption is the printed statement: ?A printed account of the child is delivered with the portrait.? This was likely a sheet of similar size, giving further details on Colburn?s remarkable abilities. His life story, written ?by himself? was published in America twenty years later.