The British Library – known for “Putting History in Place: Over 90,000 Images and Sounds from the UK and Beyond” – is currently featuring the “Evanion Collection of Ephemera”. From their webiste we learn that the collection has over 1,800 advertisements and posters from Victorian daily life, collected by the stage magician and ventriloquist, Henry Evans – better known as Evanion to his audience.
We are told that ‘Evanion’ enjoyed a long and reasonably successful career as a conjurer, ventriloquist and humorist and took advantage of his theatrical background to amass a large and fascinating collection of printed ephemera relating to entertainment and everyday life in Victorian England.
The British Library now owns some 5,000 items from his collection, originally purchased by the British Museum in 1895. And from what we can learn on the internet the collection appears to be quite interesting. I recommend anyone interested in Ephemera take a look at the online collection… and if you happen to be in London, head on over to 96 Euston Road next to King’s Cross and St Pancras International stations and have a look at this (and all their) collections.
I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.
About Tom Murphy
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