Magic History 101: The Great Raymond

Maurice "Morris" Saunders had a stellar career as THE GREAT RAYMOND, performing mainly in Europe and Australia.
Perhaps his greatest fame in the magic world is the huge amount of wonderful promotional materials he left behind.
Especially noteworthy are the many magnificent, colorful posters that were stored for decades in barns and warehouses throughout the U.S.
Raymond's widow, Litzka, married the prolific author Walter Gibson, the creator of The Shadow and the ghostwriter for Houdini, Thurston and other top magicians.
Walter was fascinated by Raymond's legacy, and made a huge effort to locate and rescue as much Raymond memorabilia as possible.
The Gibsons jam-packed their own barn in Eddyville, NY and that's where the collection remained until the mid-1990s when the bulk of the barn contents was purchased by magic collector David Baldwin.
David salvaged many of the important posters and also many personal items belonging to Raymond.
With the help of magic historian William Rauscher, he published a fabulous full color book on Raymond, which is still available today on the secondary market. (MagicTricks.com has a few in the warehouse).
The book not only details the fascinating adventures of Raymond, but also shows most of the gorgeous posters he used.
Some of Raymond's personal items are pictured as well, giving a unique insight into this very interesting magician.
A few of those items are in my collection now.