Ricky Jay Owns the Coolest Posters Ever

I am a huge fan of actor/magician and cultural historian Ricky Jay, so I was excited to read in mediabistro.com’s design blog, UnBeige, that he’s curating a new program at UCLA’s Hammer Museum, “Extraordinary Exhibitions,” with materials culled from his own extensive collection of theatrical broadsides from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. And, to make things even better—especially considering how unlikely it is I’ll be getting out to Los Angeles before the end of the month—is that it’s connected to his 2005 book of the same title, which has a cherished place in my permanent collection. (That means it’s actually in a bookcase rather than piled on the floor in my living room, and it’s not going to Housing Works until I’m dead, if then.) Of this poster for George Anderson, “The Living Skeleton,” Jay writes that Anderson himself believed “my appearance should be a terible warning to all young persons, causing them to avoid excessive bathing, and especially in fresh water.”