DAVENPORT BROTHERS (Ira 1839-1911 and William 1841-1877). Portrait of the Davenport Brothers and Fay. Ballarat: Bardwell Photo, ca. 1877. Full-length sepia tone image of the performing trio that toured the world with a spectacular pseudo-spiritualistic performance including their famous dark and light séances. Cabinet card format, 6 1/2 x 4 1/4". A historically significant and RARE image of this performing trio.

William Fay joined the Davenport Brothers both as tour manager and occasional co-star in 1864. All three men hailed from Western New York, and would tour the world together (and separately) for years with an act that walked a fine line between "genuine" and theatrical materializations of supernatural forces. Fay would also famously partner with magician Harry Kellar in a Davenport-inspired act. He eventually settled in Australia, where this photograph was taken. There he invested in real estate, operated a general store, and lived out the last decades of his life in relative prosperity. He died in 1921.

Photograph lifting from mount slightly, verso with scrapbook remnants and wear, else very good.