THURSTON, Howard (1869 ? 1936). Thurston the Great Magician. Bestowing the Mystic Decree. Cleveland: Otis Lithograph Company, ca. 1930. Massive stone lithograph billboard advertising the illusion show of this famous American magician. Mephistopheles stands at the left while a bird of prey flies toward Thurston to deliver a large skeleton key held on a ribbon in its talons. The magician stands at the center of the image, behind a tabletop supported by the hands of a demon; from the cup atop it a glowing letter ?T? floats in mid-air. 105 ? x 200 ??. Expert over-coloring and restoration primarily at sheet breaks and old folds. Linen backed. Rare; one of perhaps three or four examples known, and the first to be offered at public auction. Thurston billed his illusion show like a circus, covering the American towns he toured each year in many square yards ? if not square miles ? of brightly printed lithographs. While many examples of his smaller posters have survived, billboards such as this example by Otis (who printed many silent movie posters) are genuinely rare.