Jay's Journal of Anomalies

by Ricky Jay

One of the New York Times 's "Notable Books" and a Los Angeles Times "Best Book of the Year": Ricky Jay's brilliant excursion into the history of bizarre entertainments. Ingesters of stones, stoats, and swords have long compelled my attention. Signor Hervio Nano, the fantastic homunculus, defied conventional taxonomy. The well-trained flea has shown sufficient rationality to drive a chariot, impersonate Napoleon, or reenact the siege of Antwerp. Note the enduring popularity of severing from the head its most protuberant organthe nose. The Bonassus, advertised as unique, was in 1821 the most numerous hoofed quadruped on the face of the earth. In an era rich in examples of animal scholarship, Munito was a star. The multitalented Ricky Jay (sleight-of-hand artist, actor, author, and scholar of the unusual) wrote and published a unique and beautifully designed quarterly called Jay's Journal of Anomalies . Already coveted collector's items, the sixteen issues are now gathered here in a complete set, with significant new material and illustrations. A brilliant excursion into the history of bizarre entertainments, the journal was described in The New York Times as "beautiful and elegant...a combination of rigorous scholarship and personal rumination." In a delectably deadpan and winning style, Jay conveys his admiration and affection for the offbeat that characterized his best-selling Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women . The journal covers such subjects as dogs stealing acts from other dogs, an anthropological hoax involving the only survivors of a caste of ancient Aztec priests, and the ultimate eating nothing at all. Jay explains how wags since the sixteenth century have cheated at bowling; he explores the ancient relationship between conjuring and dentistry; and he chronicles the exploits of ceiling walkers and human flies. Crammed full of illustrations drawn from the author's massive personal archives, Jay's Journal of Anomalies will baffle, instruct, and, above all, delight. 150 illustrations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Magic, Art, Reference, Humor, Pop Culture

202 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2001

About the author

Ricky Jay (born Richard Jay Potash in 1946) was an American stage magician, actor, and writer.

Born to a Jewish-American family, Jay is considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the United States. He is notable for his signature card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. At least two of his shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem, were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as well as The Prestige and season one of HBO's Deadwood as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.

Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (the current record is 216 ft, by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces.

Reviews

[Neseli]

I cannot claim that I can evet be objective in evaluating anything Jay has written, as he was a the mostunique person with his passion to all kinds of anomalities that the world has ever known.

He was the most beautiful soul with anomaly of all anomalities!

[Nickolas S]

Ricky Jay is one of my favorite entertainers ever. This book is just another example of his ability to teach and entertain

[Lawrence]

A love letter to old playbills and an extinct era of sideshows, carnivals and conmen, this is the quaintest and coolest creation.

Originally published as a small, quarterly newsletter now compiled as a single volume, Jay reproduces old handbills and digs up buried texts to examine a range of curiosities from past centuries. Flea circuses, early automata, and the seedy origins of bowling are just some of the strange subjects that he dives into with obvious gusto.

Jay reproduces not only the look of old texts, revelling in the layout of type and reproduction of ancient handdrawn promotional material, he also writes in the style of a 19th century academic. His enthusiasm and the deep research and love he has for his subjects come through very strongly.

The book is a lovely little artifact of artifacts.

[Mark]

Truly unique amd utterly collectable, this volume is so crammed with info and ephemera, I didn't even try to absorb everything on my first read. It's defintely worth revisiting. Jay is obviously passionate about his subject matter and his entertaining and informative text is loaded with affection for the material. The book itself is a work of art. Indirectly, it brings fascinating dark corners of the human psyche to light in chronicling our search for enterainment but its done with such a deft touch, it's oddly comforting.

[Metagion]

This book was chock filled with different things about magic and everything under the Sun! With old fashioned pictures and stories about things like hoaxes, tricks and whatnot, it gives you the history of how things were and how they came to be. Very wordy, though. (I had an edition from the library with fold outs of different things that were explained).

[Anne]

This will be the first in a string of library books about hoaxes, frauds, and cheats. A fascinating exploration of a half-dozen types of fraudulent sensations, from the chess-playing mechanical Turk to nose-amputating magicians. Lots of fun.

[David]

The title explains pretty much what this book is about, a compilation of Jay's self-published magazine devoted to off-beat performers of history. Carefully documented and written in a wry manner, worth checking out of the library.

[Kathy]

Lots of interesting tidbits & beautiful illustrations! This would make a better coffee table book then a straight read through though.

[Robert]

Beautiful and informative tome detailing esoteric exotica form expired eras.

[Jenny Brown]

A coffee table book with nice illustrations. I skimmed most of it.

[Brigid Hogan]

Fantastic. In every sense.

[Elizabeth Bradley]

like I said, he's a crackerjack writer. I'd love to see his ephemera collection...good grief.

[Brett]

Bravo. Marvelous collection.

[Karen]

#BestCoffeeTableBooks #BestGiftableCoffeeTableBooks

This collection of illustrated curiosities (along with Celebrations of Curious Characters and Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women) by celebrated magician and magic historian Ricky Jay are must-have gifts for anyone with a left-of-center and slightly macabre sense of humor. Drawn from his own massive collection of books and materials on magic and curious characters, each entertains while actually contributing to magic scholarship.

[Ryan Jones]

interesting but sleightly boring.

[Mandy]

Incredibly well researched. Excellent writing. What more do you need from a modern legend?