THURSTON, Howard (1869 ? 1936). Thurston The Great Magician. [Billboard Poster]. Cincinnati & New York: Strobridge Litho., ca. 1909. Enormous color stone lithograph bears a full-length image of Mephistopheles at the right, clad in an elaborate garment, bowing at the waist to an ethereal bust of Thurston that emanates from a large Egyptian vessel on the ground. A host of imps look on in the background, in awe, as other red devils bow at the waist holding burning candles in brass candlesticks. Egyptian elements fill out the scene, including pyramids, The Sphinx, and a hieroglyphic-covered structure. 107 ? x 146 ??. Expert restoration and over-coloring at sheet breaks and to margins and old folds; Linen backed. RARE; one of perhaps three examples known. A genuinely rare stone lithograph from the years when Thurston was the foremost magician in America, made all the more uncommon due to its size. While one-sheet, half-sheet, and panel posters, especially later from Thurston?s decade-spanning career come to market regularly, large posters such as this example were rarely saved, as they were meant to be pasted on the sides of barns and other buildings.