{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 74, "folder": "", "text": "-\nChristopher linchlul\nA very rare mezzotint of Christopher Pinchbeck, Jr., combining the work\nCunningham, the greatest designer, and William Humphrey, the greatest\ntrait etcher of his day. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[57]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 169, "folder": "", "text": "233\nThis setting shows how cumbersome was the apparatus employed by magicians before Wiljalba Frikell proved\nLithograph used by E. W. Young, who copied all of John Henry Anderson's billing and featured the obedient-card trick. that\nhe could score with apparently no apparatus. Original in the Harry Houdini Collection."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 372, "folder": "", "text": "3 6105 004 841 255\n&'\nSTANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES\nSTANFORD AUXILIARY LIBRARY\nSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-6004\n(650) 723-9201\nsalcirc@sulmail.stanford.ed\nAll books are subject to recall.\nDATE DUE\nJUN\nJUC0 1 1002\n2022"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 9, "folder": "", "text": "313341\nCopyright, 1906\nCopyright, 1907\nCopyright, 1908\nBy HARRY HOUDINI\nEntered at Stationer's Hall, London, England\nAll rights reserved\nComposition. Electrotyping and Printing by\nThe Publishers Printing Company\nNew York, N. Y., U.S.A."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 8, "folder": "", "text": "8061\n'00 3H.L\nMEN\nINICHOH\n18\nNIGNOH -\nJO\nDNINSVINNO TH.L"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 357, "folder": "", "text": "93\nDecremps's Signature\n75\nDroz, Pierre Jacquet-, Por-\nDe Liska\n25\ntrait and Autograph\n92\nDe Philipsthal 110,171,173,174 Droz Writing Automatons,\nDe Philipsthal Poster\n104\nSpecimens of Penmanship\nDe Philipsthal, Programme\nrespectively in 1796 and\nof Benefit of\nIIO\n1906\n84\nDe Philipsthal Programme\nDunkell\n197\nof 1806\n173\nDutchwoman's\nDecoration\nDer Moderne Zauberer\n239\nused to Advertise\n214\nDesaguliers, Dr\n181\nDiagram Exposes the Magic\nEagle, Barney\n149\nClock Trick\n160\nEagle's, Barney, Tricks Ex-\nDiagram of Orange - tree\nposed on an Anderson Pos-\nTrick\n52\nter\n154,155\nDiavolo, Antonio\n166\nEagle's Book, Frontispiece 153\nDictionary of Arts, Manufac-\nEagle's Poster featuring the\ntures and Mines\n9I\nObedient Clock Trick\n156\nDictionary of National Biog-\nEckeberg, John Carlton\n181\nraphy\n54\nEckartshausen, Hofrath\nDisappearing Handkerchief,\nvon\n143, 160, 163, 169\n245-254\nEgyptian Wine\n252\nD\u00f6bler, 25, 45, 182, 185, 187,\nEscalopier, M. del\n280\n188,192\nEthereal Suspension\n222,312\nD\u00f6bler, Ludwig, Rare Por-\nEvanion, Henry Evans, 20,\ntrait of\n187,190\n2I, 23, 25, 26, 49, 124,259\nD\u00f6bler Programmes. 188, 189,191\nEvanion, Henry Evans, Por-\nDom Pedro\n243\ntrait of\n22\nDon Carlos, Billing used by\n221\nEvanion, Letter from Gyn-\nDon Carlos, Double-sighted\ngell\n124\nDog, Billing\n22I\nEvans, Henry Ridgely, The\nDouble-sighted Dog, Don\nOld and the New Magic\n16\nCarlos\n219\nExploration de la R\u00e9tinue\n49\nDowns, T. Nelson\n265\nExposes the Magic Clock\nDroz, Henri-Louis Jacquet-,\nTrick, Diagram\n160\nPortrait of\n94\nExposing Barney Eagle's\nDroz, Jacquet-. Clipping\nIOI\nTricks on an Anderson\nDroz, Jacquet-, View of Mech-\nPoster\n154,155\nanism of Writing Automa-\nton\n98\nFaber, I\n56\n1324]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 353, "folder": "", "text": ":"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 64, "folder": "", "text": "A very rare mezzotint of Christopher Pinchbeck, Jr., combining the work\nof Cunningham, the greatest designer, and William Humphrey, the greatest\nportrait etcher of his day. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[57]\n:"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 364, "folder": "", "text": "Anderson Poster Featuring Card Trick Used in 836-37\n142\nAnderson Poster Used in 1838\n147\nAnderson Poster Used in London, 1848\n313\nAnderson's Billing of 1838 Featuring \"Napoleon's Trick\n150\nAnderson's Book Cover Design\n148\nAnderson's Inexhaustible Bottle Trick\n186\nAnderson's, J. H., Birthplace\n145\nAnderson's Opening Programme, 1848\n309\nAnderson's Poster, Exposing Barney' Eagle's Tricks\n154,155\nAstley, Philip, Esq\n19\nBamberg, David Leendert\n140\n\" Barney,\" alias The Impostor Wizard, Window Poster Issued by\nAnderson\nI 55\nBarnum, P. T\n88\nBasch, Ernst\n139\nBertram, Charles (James Bassett)\n20\nBlitz, Signor Antonio\n18\nBologna Bill Used in 1812\n170\nBologna Poster Used in 1820\n118\nBosco, Bartolomeo, in His Prime\n301\nBosco, Eugene\n315\nBosco, Grave of\n306\nBosco, Madame, the only Photograph of\n3\u00b05\nBottle Trick, Inexhaustible\n186\nBrahmin, The Suspension\n229\nBreslaw's Frontispiece on Book on Magic, \"The Last Legacy,\"\nI44\n(i]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 68, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER II\nTHE ORANGE-TREE TRICK\nR\nOBERT-HOUDIN, on page I79 of the American\nedition of his \"Memoirs,\" thus describes the\norange-tree trick, which he claims as his inven-\ntion: \"The next was a mysterious orange-tree,\non which flowers and fruit burst into life at the request of\nthe ladies. As the finale, a handkerchief I borrowed\nwas conveyed into an orange purposely left on the tree.\nThis opened and displayed the handkerchief, which two\nbutterflies took by the corners and unfolded before the\nspectators.\"\nOn page 245 of the same volume he presents the\nprogramme given at the first public performance in the\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin, stating:\n\"The performance will be composed of entirely novel\nExperiments invented by M. Robert-Houdin. Among\nthem being The Orange-Tree, etc.\"\nNow to retrace our steps in the history of magic as set\nforth in handbills and advertisements of earlier and con-\ntemporaneous newspaper clippings describing their in-\nventions.\nUnder the title of \"The Apple-Tree\" this mechanical\ntrick appeared on a Fawkes programme dated 1730. This\nwas 115 years before Robert-Houdin claimed it as his\ninvention. In 1732, just before Pinchbeck's death, it\n[ 51 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 58, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER II\nTHE ORANGE-TREE TRICK\nR\nOBERT-HOUDIN, on page I79 of the American\nedition of his \"Memoirs,\" thus describes the\norange-tree trick, which he claims as his inven-\ntion: \"The next was a mysterious orange-tree,\non which flowers and fruit burst into life at the request of\nthe ladies. As the finale, a handkerchief I borrowed\nwas conveyed into an orange purposely left on the tree.\nThis opened and displayed the handkerchief, which two\nbutterflies took by the corners and unfolded before the\nspectators.\"\nOn page 245 of the same volume he presents the\nprogramme given at the first public performance in the\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin, stating:\n\"The performance will be composed of entirely novel\nExperiments invented by M. Robert-Houdin. Among\nthem being The Orange-Tree, etc.\"\nNow to retrace our steps in the history of magic as set\nforth in handbills and advertisements of earlier and con-\ntemporaneous newspaper clippings describing their in-\nventions.\nUnder the title of \"The Apple-Tree\" this mechanical\ntrick appeared on a Fawkes programme dated I730. This\nwas II5 years before Robert-Houdin claimed it as his\ninvention. In I732, just before Pinchbeck's death, it\n[ 51 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 100, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER III\nTHE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nI\nN his \"Memoirs\" Robert-Houdin eulogizes the vari-\nous automata which he claims to have invented. The\npicturesque fashion in which he describes the tre-\nmendous effort put forth ere success crowned his la- ,\nbors would render his arguments most convincing-if\nstern historical facts did not contradict his every statement.\nOne of the most extraordinary mechanical figures\nwhich he exploits as his invention was the writing and\ndrawing figure, which he exhibited at the Quinquennial\nExhibition in 1844, but never used in his public perform-\nances, though he asserts that he planned to exhibit it\nbetween performances at his own theatre. This au-\ntomaton, he says, laid the foundation of his financial\nsuccess and opened the way to realizing his dream of\nappearing as a magician.\nOn page 196 of his \"Memoirs,\" American edition, he\nstarts his romantic description of its conception and\nmanufacture. According to this he had just planned what\npromised to be the most brilliant of his mechanical in-\nventions when financial difficulties intervened. He was\nobliged to raise two thousand francs to meet a pressing\ndebt. He applied to the ever-convenient Monsieur G--\nwho had bought automata from him before. He described\nthe writing and drawing figure minutely to his patron,\n[83]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 133, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER IV\nTHE PASTRY COOK OF THE PALAIS ROYAL\nONCERNING this trick, which Robert-Houdin\nclaims as his invention, he writes on page 79 of\nhis \"Memoirs,\" American edition \"The first\nwas a small pastry cook, issuing from his shop\ndoor at the word of command, and bringing, according\nto the spectator's request, patties and refreshments of\nevery description. At the side of the shop, assistant\npastry cooks might be seen rolling paste and putting it\nin the oven.\"\nBy means of handbills, programmes, and newspaper\nnotices of magical and mechanical performances, this\ntrick in various guises can be traced back as far as I796.\nNine reputable magicians offered it as part of their reper-\ntoire, and at times two men presented it simultaneously,\nshowing that more than one such automaton existed.\nThe dates of the most notable programmes or handbills\nselected from my collection are as follows:\nI, Haddock, 1797. 2, Garnerin, 1815. 3, Gyngell,\n1816 and 1823. 4, Bologna, 1820. 5, Henry, 1822. 6,\nSchmidt, 1827. 7, Rovere, 1828. 8, Charles, 1829. 9,\nPhillippe, 1841.\nIn 1827 Schmidt and Gyngell joined forces, yet both\nbefore and after this date each performer had the wonder-\nful little piece of mechanism on his programme. In 1841,\n[ 116"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 274, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER IX\nTHE DISAPPEARING HANDKERCHIEF\nS\nUPREME egotism and utter disregard for the truth\nmay be traced in all of Robert-Houdin's writings,\nbut they reached a veritable climax when he indited\nchapter XVI. of his \"Memoirs.\" During the\ncourse of this chapter he described the so-called invention\nand first production of the disappearing-handkerchief trick.\nAccording to the American edition of his \"Memoirs,\"\npage 3\u00b03, he received a command to appear before Louis\nPhilippe and his family at St. Cloud in November, 1846.\nDuring the six days intervening between the official in-\nvitation and his appearance before the royal family, he\narranged a trick from which, he states, he had every reason\nto expect excellent results. On page 305 he goes even\nfurther in his claims and announces:\n\"All my tricks were favorably received, and the one\nI had invented for the occasion gained me unbounded\napplause.\"\nHe then gives the following description of the trick and\nits performance:\n\"I borrowed from my noble spectators several handker-\nchiefs, which I made into a parcel, and laid on the table.\nThen, at my request, different persons wrote on the cards\nthe names of places whither they desired their handker-\nchiefs to be invisibly transported.\n\"When this had been done, I begged the King to take\n[ 245 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 158, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER V\nTHE OBEDIENT CARDS - THE CABALISTIC CLOCK - THE\nTRAPEZE AUTOMATON\nThe Obedient Cards.\nT\nO\ntrace here the history of three very com-\nmon tricks claimed by Robert-Houdin as his\nown inventions would be sheer waste of time,\nif the exposure did not prove beyond doubt\nthat in announcing the various tricks of his r\u00e9pertoire as\nthe output of his own brain he was not only flagrant and\nunscrupulous, but he did not even give his readers credit\nfor enough intelligence to recognize tricks performed re-\npeatedly by his predecessors whom they had seen. Not\nsatisfied with purloining tricks so important that one or\ntwo would have been sufficient to establish the reputation\nof any conjurer or inventor, he must needs lay claim to\nhaving invented tricks long the property of mountebanks\nas well as reputable magicians.\nThe tricks referred to are the obedient card, the\ncabalistic clock, and the automaton known as Diavolo\nAntonio or Le Voltigeur au Trap\u00e8ze.\nThe obedient-card trick, mentioned on page 245 of\nthe American edition of his \"Memoirs,\" as \"a novel ex-\nperiment invented by M. Robert-Houdin,\" can be found\non the programme of every magician who ever laid claim\nto dexterity of hand. Whether they accomplished the effect\n[ I4I ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 203, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER VI\nTHE INEXHAUSTIBLE BOTTLE\nW\nHILE Robert-Houdin claims to have invented\n\"The Inexhaustible Bottle\" for a special\nprogramme designed to create a sensation\nat the opening of his season of 1848, in\nthe illustrated appendix of the original French edi-\ntion of his \"Memoirs\" he states that it had its premier\npresentation December ist, 1847. These discrepancies\noccur with such frequency that it is difficult to refute\nhis claims in chronological order. Perhaps he adopted\nthis method intentionally, to confuse future historians of\nmagic, particularly concerning his own achievements.\nIn order to emphasize the brilliancy of this trick,\nRobert-Houdin turned boastful in describing it. On page\n348 of the American edition of his \"Memoirs,\" he states\nthat the trick had created such a sensation and was so\nmuch exploited in the London newspapers that the fame\nof his inexhaustible bottle spread to the provinces, and\non his appearance in Manchester with the bottle in his\nhand the workmen who made up the audience nearly\nmobbed him. In fact, the description of this scene is the\nmost dramatic pen-picture in his \"Memoirs.\"\nThe truth, sad to state, is that the bottle trick did not\ncreate the sensation he claims for it in London, nor did\nthe press eulogize it. It was classed with other ordinary\n[176.]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 227, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER VII\nSECOND SIGHT\nE\nVIDENTLY second sight was the foundation-\nstone of Robert-Houdin's success. Reading be-\ntween the lines of his autobiography, one finds\nthat this was the trick which carried him into the\nsalons of fashion and royalty. Before he introduced\nsecond sight into his r\u00e9pertoire, his tricks were so com-\nmonplace that they did not arouse the interest of the court\ncircle, whose approval furnished the seal of success.\nThis trick of second sight he claims body and soul,\nas the favorite child of his brain. He even goes as far\nas to relate a story to prove that the trick came to him\nin the form of an inspiration. I quote directly from the\nAmerican edition of his \"Memoirs,\" page 255:\n\"My two children were playing one day in the drawing-\nroom at a game they had invented for their own amuse-\nment; the younger had bandaged his elder brother's eyes\nand made him guess the objects that he touched, and\nwhen the latter happened to guess right they changed\nplaces. This simple game suggested to me the most\ncomplicated idea that ever crossed my mind. Pursued\nby the notion, I ran and shut myself in my workshop,\nand was fortunately in that happy state when the mind\nfollows easily the combinations traced by fancy. I rested\nmy head in my hands, and in my excitement laid down\nthe first principles of second sight.\"\n[200]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 249, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER VIII\nTHE SUSPENSION TRICK\nI'\nN chapters XVI. and XVII. of the American edition\nof his \"Memoirs,\" Robert-Houdin states that\nhe closed his theatre during the months of July,\nAugust, and September, 1847, and devoted his time\nto producing new tricks for the coming season. He chron-\nicles as the result of these labors the following additions\nto his r\u00e9pertoire: \"The Crystal Box,\" \"The Fantastic\nPortfolio,\" \"The Trapeze Tumbler, \"The Garde Fran-\n\u00e7aise,\" \"The Origin of Flowers,\" \"The Crystal Balls,\"\n\"The Inexhaustible Bottle,\" \"The Ethereal Suspension,\"\netc.\nHad these inventions really been original with the man\nwho claimed them as the result of his own brain-work and\nhandicraft, three years would not have sufficed to bring\nthem to the perfection in which they were presented at\nthat time. It is not always the actual work that makes\na trick a success, nor the material from which it is con-\nstructed, but it takes time to plan a new trick; and then\nafter you have worked out the idea, it takes more time to\nmake it practical. The same piece of apparatus may\nhave to be made dozens of times, in as many shapes,\nbefore it is presentable. Therefore, when Robert-Houdin\nclaims to have invented and built with his own hands the\ntricks mentioned in the list given above, it is time to prove\nthe improbability and falsity of his statements.\n[222]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 293, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER X\nROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC AS BETRAYED\nBY HIS OWN PEN\nTATEMENTS in Robert-Houdin's various works\nS\non the conjurer's art corroborate my claim that he\nwas not a master-magician, but a clever purloiner\nX\nand adapter of the tricks invented and used by\nhis predecessors and contemporaries. Whenever, in these\nbooks, he attempts to explain or expose a trick which was\nnot part of his r\u00e9pertoire, he betrays an ignorance which\nwould be impossible in a conjurer versed in the finer and\nnore subtle branches of his art. Neither do these expla-\nnations show that he was clever enough as a mechanic to\nhave invented the apparatus which he claimed as his\nhandiwork. He states that practice and still more prac-\ntice are essential, yet no intelligent performer, amateur\nor professional, can study my collection of Robert-Houdin\nprogrammes, handbills, and press notices without realiz-\ning that his r\u00e9pertoire contained little or no trace of what\nshould be the foundation of successful conjuring, sleight-\nof-hand. Changing his fingers over the various air-holes\nof the inexhaustible bottle was as near as he ever came\nto sleight-of-hand, even when he was in the height of his\nsuccess.\nAccording to the press notices he had a pleasing stage\npresence, and also dressed and set forth his tricks richly,\nbut it must be borne in mind that then, as often to-day,\n[ 264 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 324, "folder": "", "text": "CHAPTER XI\nTHE NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nT\nHE charm of true memoirs lies far beyond the\nprinted pages, in the depth and breadth of\nthe writer's soul. The greatest of all autobi-\nographies are those which detail not only the\nlives of the men who penned them, but which abound in\ndiverting anecdotes and character studies of the men and\nwomen among whom the writer moved. They are not\nautobiographies alone, but vivid, broad-minded pen-\nPictures of the period in which the writer was a vigorous,\nrespect-compelling figure. Memoirs written with a view\nto settling old scores seldom live to accomplish their ends.\nI he narrowness and pettiness of the writer, which intelli-\ngent reading of history is bound to disclose, destroy all\nOther charms which the book may possess.\nAt personal exploitation Robert-Houdin is a brilliant\nSuccess. As a writer of memoirs he is a wretched failure.\nWhenever he writes of himself, his pen seems fairly to\nscintillate. Whenever he refers to other magicians of\nhis times, his pen lags and drops on the pages blots\nwhich can emanate only from a narrow, petty, jeal-\nous nature.\nEven when he writes of his own family, this peculiar\ntrait of petty egotism may be read between the lines. He\nmentions the name of his son \u00c9mile, apparently because\n[ 295 ]\ni"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 12, "folder": "", "text": "CONTENTS\nPAGE\nINTRODUCTION,\n7\nCHAPTER\nI. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-\nHOUDIN,\n33\nII. THE ORANGE-TREE TRICK,\n5I\nIII. THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE,\n83\nIV. THE PASTRY Cook OF THE PALAIS ROYAL,\nII6\nV. THE OBEDIENT CARDS-THE CABALISTIC CLOCK-THE\nTRAPEZE AUTOMATON,\nI4I\nVI. THE INEXHAUSTIBLE BOTTLE,\n.\n176\nVII. SECOND SIGHT,\n. 200\nVIII. THE SUSPENSION TRICK,\n. 222\nIX. THE DISAPPEARING HANDKERCHIEF,\n245\nX. ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC AS BE-\nTRAYED BY His OWN PEN,\n. 264\nXI. THE NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS,\" 295\n[5]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 10, "folder": "", "text": "Dedication\nThis Book is affectionately dedicated to the memory of\nmy father,\nRev. M. S. Weiss, Ph.D., LL.D.,\nwho instilled in me love of study and patience in research"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 254, "folder": "", "text": "Die Chineilche\nReproduction of an engraving in an old German Encyclopaedia in the Harry Houdini Collection,\nwhich credits to the Chinese the trick of climbing into the air and having the body fall down piecemeal\nand being set together again."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 66, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nContemporary magicians of Robert-Houdin and men\nof high repute in other walks of life seem to agree that\nRobert-Houdin was an entertainer of only average merit.\nAmong the men who advanced this theory were the late\nHenry Evanion of whose deep interest in magic I wrote\nin the introduction, Sir William Clayton who was Robert-\nHoudin's personal friend in London, Ernest Basch who\nsaw Robert-Houdin in Berlin, and T. Bolin of Moscow,\nRussia, who bought all his tricks in Paris and there saw\nRobert-Houdin and studied his work as a conjurer.\nRobert-Houdin's contributions to literature, all of\nwhich are eulogistic of his own talents, are as follows:\n\"Confidence et R\u00e9v\u00e9lations,\" published in Paris in\n1858 and translated into English by Lascelles Wraxall,\nwith an introduction by R. Shelton Mackenzie.\n\"Les Tricheries des Grecs\" (Card-Sharping Exposed),\npublished in Paris in 1861.\n\"Secrets de la Prestidigitation\" (Secrets of Magic),\npublished in Paris in 1868.\n\"Le Prieur\u00e9\" (The Priory, being an account of his\nelectrically equipped house), published in Paris in 1867.\n\"Les Radiations Lumineuses,\" published in Blois in\n1869.\n\" \"Exploration de la R\u00e9tinue,\" published in Blois, 1869.\n\"Magic et Physique Amusante\" (\u0153uvre posthume),\npublished in Paris in 1877, six years after Robert-Houdin's\ndeath.\nIn his autobiography, Robert-Houdin makes specific\nclaim to the honor of having invented the following\ntricks: The Orange Tree, Second Sight, Suspension,\nThe Cabalistic Clock. The Inexhaustible Bottle, The\n4\n[ 49 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 56, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nContemporary magicians of Robert-Houdin and men\nof high repute in other walks of life seem to agree that\nRobert-Houdin was an entertainer of only average merit.\nAmong the men who advanced this theory were the late\nHenry Evanion of whose deep interest in magic I wrote\nin the introduction, Sir William Clayton who was Robert-\nHoudin's personal friend in London, Ernest Basch who\nsaw Robert-Houdin in Berlin, and T. Bolin of Moscow,\nRussia, who bought all his tricks in Paris and there saw\nRobert-Houdin and studied his work as a conjurer.\nRobert-Houdin's contributions to literature, all of\nwhich are eulogistic of his own talents, are as follows:\n\"Confidence et R\u00e9v\u00e9lations,\" published in Paris in\n1858 and translated into English by Lascelles Wraxall,\nwith an introduction by R. Shelton Mackenzie.\n\"Les Tricheries des Grecs\" (Card-Sharping Exposed),\npublished in Paris in 1861.\n\"Secrets de la Prestidigitation\" (Secrets of Magic),\npublished in Paris in 1868.\n\"Le Prieur\u00e9\" (The Priory, being an account of his\nelectrically equipped house), published in Paris in 1867.\n\"Les Radiations Lumineuses,\" published in Blois in\n1869.\n\"Exploration de la R\u00e9tinue,\" published in Blois, 1869.\n\"Magic et Physique Amusante\" (\u0153uvre posthume),\npublished in Paris in 1877, six years after Robert-Houdin's\ndeath.\nIn his autobiography, Robert-Houdin makes specific\nclaim to the honor of having invented the following\ntricks: The Orange Tree, Second Sight, Suspension,\nThe Cabalistic Clock. The Inexhaustible Bottle, The\n4\n[ 49 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 52, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nIn 1846 he claims to have invented second sight, and\nat the opening of the season in 1847 he presented as his\nown creation the suspension trick. During the interim\nhe played an engagement in Brussels which was a finan-\ncial failure.\nIn 1848 the Revolution closed the doors of Parisian\ntheatres, Robert-Houdin's among the rest, and he re-\nturned to clockmaking and automata building, until he\nreceived from John Mitchell, who had met with great\nsuccess in managing Ludwig D\u00f6bler and Phillippe, an\noffer to appear in London at the St. James's Theatre.\nThis engagement was a brilliant success and for the first\ntime in his career Robert-Houdin reaped big financial\nreturns.\nLater Robert-Houdin toured the English provinces\nunder his own management and made return trips to\nLondon, but his tour under Mitchell was the most notable\nengagement of his career.\nIn 1850, while playing in Paris, he decided to retire,\nand to turn over his theatre and tricks to one Hamilton.\nA contemporary clipping, taken from an English news-\npaper of 1848, goes to prove that Hamilton was an\nEnglishman who entered Robert-Houdin's employ. Ham-\nilton signed a dual contract, agreeing to produce Robert-\nHoudin's tricks as his acknowledged successor and to\nmarry Robert-Houdin's sister, thus keeping the tricks\nand the theatre in the family. During the next two years\nRobert-Houdin spent part of his time instructing his\nbrother-in-law in all the mysteries of his art. In July,\n1852, he played a few engagements in Germany, including\nBerlin and various bathing resorts, and then formally\n[45]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 46, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nRaser \" esprees Datrensge e\nGracess\nTHE QUEEN,\nHIS ROYAL HIOHNESS THE PRINCE ALBERT.\nHEA ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCEESS OF KENT,\nTHEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES THE DUEE & DUCHESS OF CAXBRIDO&,\nKEA ROYAL HIOHNESS THE DUCHESS OF OLOUCESTEL\nA GRAND\nMORNING FETE,\nA CONCERT & DANCING,\n\"\nBatts and for the Labouting Classes,\nIN COULSTON\nPLACE\nOx WEDNESDAY, JULY TR$ 19ta,\nUnder the above exalted Patronage,\nAT\nThe Residence of ARTSUR Esq.\nWaich Ass most hindly placed et the dispesal the Ledies\nTEE CONCERT\nsan sombine sminent et the tollsting use babe most estigingis\nassistants\nMADAME GRISI,\nMADAME CASTELLAN,\nMADLLE ALBONI,\nMARIO, M. ROGER, sto. TAMBURINI, a SIG. LABLACHS.\nCONDUOTOR\nSIGNOR COSTA.\nA\nTENT WILL BE ERECTED IN THE GROUNDS,\n\"\nROBERT-HOUDIN.\nwhe Ase .... -\nThe Grounds will be open from One o'Clock untu Sigbs.\nTICKETS FOR THE TETE,\nTHE or WHICN will et LIMITED,\nCan only be procured on the presentitation of Vouchers from the following\nLADIES\nDecesse or\nos\nes Ricameyo.\nor\nVIMCUNTEN ******\nor\n(revers os\nes\nor\nos\nances.\nOrcatse or Stocistom.\nor\nLeav Acasa:\nbecusss or\nor\nLADT as &suse.\nor Mostross.\n\"\nLADT Stamist.\no\nor\nDecuses or\nos\nLem\nos\nCocatus Gast.\nLeot\nos\nor\nor WATEAPORN\nLaos\no\n\" PROUNADA.\nCOFNTESS os\nor\nCor>rase\nLare Gastam.\nos\nBases,\nos\nLAM Jewn\nMabast V. as\nor\nLIONEL Da\nor\nTes L.DT\nor Ducomes,\nNow *** Nuarom.\nNas. Nims.\nSingle Tickete\n22 2s. esch.\"\ndetional for comorried Sons and Deughters of the same Pamily. 21 1. -\nN\u00b0\nVenchers will be exchanged at Mr. MITCHELL' Zoyal Libras, 33, O14 Sond Street\non TN& tava, lern. - tare JULV.\nRobert-Houdin's first appearance before Queen Victoria, July 19th, 1848.\nA very rare, and possibly the only, programme in existence, chronicling\nThe original, now in the Harry Houdini Collection, was presented to James\nSavren by Robert-Houdin.\n[39]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 50, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nhe asserts, he built his famous writing and drawing\nfigure.\nThe next year, 1845, he was assisted by Count de\nL'Escalopier, a devotee of conjuring and automata, who\nadvanced the money to fit up\nand furnish a small theatre\nST JAMES'S THEATR\u00c9\nSaturday Evening, Aug. 19.\nin the Palais Royal. Robert-\nPOSITIVELY THE\nHoudin went about the work\nLAST\nNIGHT\nof decorating and furnishing this\nOF THE SEASON.\ntheatre with a view to securing\nBENEFIT OF\nthe most dramatic and brilliant\nMILE-HOUDIN\neffects, surrounding his simple\nROBERT\ntricks with a setting that made\nHOUDIN\nthem vastly different from the\nwill POSTIVELY MAEE ats\nsame offerings by his predeces-\nLast Appearamce in Lendon\nNaturday Evening, Aug. 19,5'\nsors. He was what is called to-\nOutes to Nio Eagagement et the Theatre Reyal, Mascheath.\nwhich Tuesday Evening aexi, Arges $2.\nTHE PROGRAMNE\nday an original producer of old\nBITS & INVENTIONS\nTHE avexava\nideas. On June 25th, 1845, he\nMILE-HOUDIN Me ,\nSECOND SIGNT,\nus\ngave his first private perform-\n\"\nINVISIBILETE,\"\nESCAMOTAGE EXTRAORDINAIRE,\nance before a few friends. On\nAMILK-HOUDIN\nSuspension Ethereenne,\nBY UGENE-BOUDIN.\nJuly 3d of the same year his\naoxgs, da. PIT, GAL STALLS, la se.\nPRIVATE BUXES ... STALLS\n-\nSOVAL sa,\ntheatre of magic was opened\nformally to the public. The\nprogramme of this performance\nPoster for theEmile-Houdin\nbenefit at St. James's Thea-\nis shown on page 37.\ntre in 1848. From the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nIt will be noted that the famous\nwriting and drawing figure was not then included in Robert-\nHoudin's r\u00e9pertoire, nor does it ever appear on any of his\nprogrammes. He exhibited it at the quinquennial exhibi-\ntion in 1844, received a silver medal for it, and very soon\nsold it to the late P. T. Barnum, who exported it to America.\n[43]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 54, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nperforming this service is not set forth in any of his works.\nHe spent the fall of 1856 in Algeria.\nFrom the date of his return to St. Gervais to the time\nof his death, June 13th, 1871, Robert-Houdin devoted\nhis energies to improving his inventions and writing his\nR\nBas-relief on Robert-Houdin tombstone. From a photograph taken by the\nauthor, especially for this work, and now in the Harry Houdini Collection.\nbooks, though, as stated before, it was generally believed\nby contemporary magicians that in the latter task he\nentrusted most of the real work to a Parisian journalist\nwhose name was never known.\nHe was survived by a wife, a son named Emile, and\na step-daughter. Emile Houdin managed his father's\ntheatre until his death in 1883, when the theatre was\n[ 47 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 42, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntastes led him back to his father's trade, watchmaking.\nWhile working for his cousin at Blois, he visited a book-\nshop in search of Berthoud's \"Treatise on Clockmaking,\"\nbut by mistake he was given several volumes of an old\nencyclopaedia, one of which contained a dissertation on\n\"Scientific Amusements,\" or an exposition of magic.\nThis simple incident, he asserts, changed the entire\ncurrent of his life. At eighteen, he first turned his atten-\ntion to magic. At forty, he made his first appearance\nas an independent magician or public performer.\nOn page 44 of his \"Memoirs,\" American edition, Robert-\nHoudin refers to this book as an encyclopaedia, but several\ntimes later he calls it \"White Magic.\" In all probability\nit was the famous work by Henri Decremps in five vol-\numes, known as \"La Magie Banche D\u00e9voil\u00e9e,\" or \"White\nMagic Exposed.\" This was written by Decremps to\ninjure Pinetti, and it exposed all the latter's tricks, in-\ncluding the orange tree, the vaulting trapeze automaton,\nand in fact the majority of the tricks later claimed by\nRobert-Houdin as his own inventions.\nIn 1828, while working for M. Noriet, a watchmaker in\nTours, Jean-Eugene Robert was poisoned by improperly\nprepared food, and in his delirium started for his old home\nin Blois. He was picked up on the roadside by Torrini,\na travelling magician, who nursed him back to health\nin his portable theatre. Just as young Jean recovered\nTorrini was injured in an accident, and his erstwhile\npatient remained to nurse his benefactor and later to help\nTorrini's assistant present the programme of magic by\nwhich they made their living. His first public appearance\nas the representative of Torrini was made at Aubusson.\n[ 35 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 48, "folder": "", "text": "EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthan likely that one died before his wife. He married\nagain soon, and though he gives his second wife great\ncredit as a helpmate he does not state her name.\nBy this time he had acquired more than passing fame\nRobert-Houdin as he appeared to the English critics. Reproduced from the\nIllustrated London News, December 23d, 1848.\nas a repairer of automata, and in 1844 he mended Vau-\ncanson's marvellous duck, one of the most remarkable\nautomata ever made. Doubtless other automata found\n[ 4I ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 125, "folder": "", "text": "Ebeatte,\nMr. Louis's\nROYAL, MECHANICAL, and OPTICAL\nDarhibition\nwall continue open Four Nights longer only, with the Addition of a New Pirca.\nMonday, April 1,1815, Wednesday, Thurday and Friday following,\nthe 5th, 6th, and 7th.\nAnd, in erder to make his Exhibition mill more wartly of the Public Patrosage, the\nProprietor bege leave to inform them, that, in Addition to the whale Selection already\nexhibited with UNBOUNDED APPLAUSE, he will introduce, every Evening,\nA SUPERB MECHANICAL\nPeacocl\nAS LARGE AS LIFE,\nIn its Natural Plumage!\nWhich imitates, so closely, the CRIES, ACTIONS, and ATTITUDES of that stately and\nbeautiful Bird, that it is not unfrequently supposed to be an absolute living Animal.\nproperly trained to act as as Amasing Deception.\nAhbongh - Description cas property itlestrate these . Ast. yet to merey to the\npablic sa des of their and of the imitative powers with waxh these Figares -\nesplanation mbitted, they exb.bited the follewing -\n\" are . manaer\nTWO ELEGANT AUTOMATA,\nAs large as melare, the - . POLONNESE, the - . sov.\nNething cae the adroicable of these Pieces. The large Figure - alment\nwith bumse Faculties, eshiliting the esual feste of . Mope- Dancer, in the felless of hfs. The -\nFigare . envested with equally astonishing powere of activa. To sech ledice - are spectasore it - be\n.\nvery that these exertious do not escite thowe - whird arese\nthe aight of Pigares freught with lite. performies feas ettended with - mech dange.\nA Superb MUSICAL LADY,\nRepreseeting the BELLE BOXLANE, whe pleye with the grentess preceise Sistere Arra, every -\npreveede\nfrove\nthe\npresere\nof\nthe\nand\nfeet,\n-\nthe\napprepriate\nkeys,\n-\nkeing\npersea,\nwith\nthe\nof her besd. eyes, and eye-hds, . directed to the heye. The compect and well preperticeed forma,\nand easy enaffected air of thie Female Figure, have been gvessly and considured by\nthe very best jedges - happy combission of the asta of Desige - Nechaniom, whish predeces . the\nsame tiase the of respiratice.\nTHE MSCHANICAL\nDRAWING AND WRITING MASTER,\nA JUVENILE ARTIST. The figure of Ecy, who, with every actice of resi life will escrate is presence\nof the compeey, of Drawing and Vriting, seperier - the best of the - if\nSigure\nwere\ndestatute\nof\n\"\nweeld\nbe\npicteresque,\nbut\nwhee,\nwsth\nthe\ncase\nand\nof\nwell\neducated youth, \" saites the power of produciag such perfect imitation of estere, as almet se - the\nGree's Mythology. whee spesking of figures formed est of sordid clay. which, by Premethers,\natarted isto life and, extreerdisary as the fable apprera, it ie equalled, it not by the wenderfal\nof thie \u00f3gure.\nAN OLD NECROMANCER,\n- fairly be decominaled the Brisad Ench\u00e4nter, for few af the fabled vales comcersing the -\nof these purking - \" their native groves of Preidical whene vagie quella impred\nevery bregh, could - bryand the realities of the whe the ques-\nthat are - him. with the precition of - Oracle any from the\napisit\u00e9 - - - the anciest - for this sapient Sine's Decisione origisate\nin of the perhanical powers,\nThe Liute @paniarb:\nThis ragalated by mutic, le which be Weape sime with eritical\nand\nexactass. The agility at this he are fermed with\n- by which it the ef making harre.\nand acimity. of the whinh is - will gire the\n* ides et the of the\nA BIRD OF PARADISE,\nSapers Cold - - te ler in\n- bea. The - of die piece af reay le - and\nfor delinacy of\n- de - Orginal, - - d\ndecience of Optics.\nThe Proprister - - . of IDEAL PERSPECTIVE\nPROSPECTS of the ELYSIAN FIELDS,\nAnd other vnews. The effert predured, - if lighoqued by the Mees, is whoch ERIAL\nSPERITS and SHADIS of great - will -marge - being - pisce of the Scieace of OPTICA,\nand of whiph the - dert of - - - - to predace the hs.\nThe whole to seit\u00e0 - s - of brillions Nechonical and\nFire-Works,\nA Louis programme of April 3rd, 1815, in which the writing and drawin\nfigure is advertised as a juvenile artist. It also features a bird of paradi:\nautomaton which Robert-Houdin claimed to have invented thirty years late\nFrom the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[08]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 190, "folder": "", "text": "FOR THE FIRST TIME.\nThe Mechanical PEACOCK,\nTHE VIEW OF THE CITY or\nA\n- Piece of Anificial Animation which imitases, 6 clofely. the Cries, Altions, and\nAssicudos of the Sasely and beastifel Bied. thas it ie sot enfrequently fappoled to be an abfolate liv\ning Animal, propedly imaned 10 a\u00fb as - amuling deception apos the Public.\nStockholm,\nThe Magnetic Clock,\nor\nto\n-\nViss\nell be - ender Sell .... the\narrsa well as TRE SEAUTITUC SCENS or THE\nNowly is fapported on two Chryfal Columna, and termounted by a charaCerific Figur\nof which will amule and divert the Company. by difoovering\nVoyage of Captain Parry to the\ntheir arc. on an Aiphobetical Dial Plate, fernifhed with a feif-moving fedex.\nThe Senfative WIND-MILL,\nNorth Pole:\nWhich regulases its motion by the apparens impalie of a Word from any Speflator-sa\nforms - obey the With of the Company by a pelitive Gift of Incaition,\nHis paseage threugh the Frotes Straits, amonger the\nSELECT EXPER\u00c9MENTS IN\nFLOATING ICE.\nHYDRAULICS,\nOs the Sbore will be - Sequimere, with their Sledges draws by Degs.-Besre persued and\n,\nhilled b As See sal be represested Esquimaux Wome is their native Boate; also the\nLonding of the Sailore from the Discesery Ships. Fary and Hecla.\nA GRAND\nDISPLAY OF WATER-WORKS,\nTHIRD PART THE CITY OF\nThe rifes from the frome of the Suge, endafter forming into many delightful Fountains,\nis conjoined with\nAmsterdam,\nFIRE OF DIFFERENT KINDS,\nwa ou\nAst the - bellile Ziements ferioully rell together to the Cieling of the Thestre, the Water\nThe Vise . - the ote The Viee of the Bridge \" es the Ametel. The Toes\n.\n- ages late Morese\nthie\n-\n-\n..\nof\nthe\nMet\n\"\nalfo to the fimme heigle a Lafkre with Candles burning.\nFIRE-WORKS PLAYING,\nAn Aquatic Exhibition on the River.\nA . le - several Trephico of Victery. the Ascras of the ie \", tring - diepery\noth Experimess, without any Offeince even to the mon delicase\nbut efter Ellers. Perase is - - gaie the Top, .. beer eve, the Pras.\nTOURTUI PLECE. THE WOVOERFUL ANO UNRIVALLED\nTo will be added fevera) Original Experiments in the Science of\nOPTICS,\nTOMATON,\nOn the Flying Rope;\nos WHICH HE Is THE SOLE INVENTOR.\nThe case - . vase - vea end forme - - - de.\n- - being . the Rege by the Heed, lihe The Repe be la\nAccompaniod by a Scorm of\n- the Figare will eit perfectly esey and le gracefal etulade, . the Saug. sed perfora the -\n- be free . LIVING PERFORNER, \" \" messe with - Corvect-\nThunder, Lightning, &c. &c.\n- - apgarest\nTO CONCLUDE WITH A\n. - - & of and MECHANICAL and OPTICAL\nFIRE-WORKS,\nStorm at Sea!\n-\nof\nthe\nDifplayed in the Centre of a Tranfparent Arbour.\nby\nit\nas de Tempee, by Laghteing. and Anally the\n. - the Reche. altegether of Netere,\n6\n-\n-\nA de Philipsthal programme of 1806 on which both the automatic tight-rope per-\nformer and the magnetic clock were featured. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\nA Thiodon bill of 1825, in which he claims the invention of a figure that could\nbe lifted on or off the stage or pole. This was twenty-five years before Robert-\nHoudin claimed the same invention. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n173"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 260, "folder": "", "text": "Fire Nights only.\nAT THE NEW ASSEMBLY ROOMS.\nThe celebrated CHING LAU LAURO,\n- - - --- - - -\n- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -\n-\n-\nCLA - - - - - - - - - - - - -\n- - - - - - - - - - - -\n- - - - - - - - -\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\na\n-\n-\n-\n- - - - -\n-\n-\n- -\nThe - - - - 1 - - - -\nCHING LAULAURO\num - -\n-\nOs Munday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,\nMarch the the 1218 121h, and 14th, 1834.\n= - - - - - - - - -\nPART #.\nTHE CHEST OF ARCHIMEDES,\nThe Column of\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n- - - - - - - -\nA at Whet Tim the Wax Candies Eschanted\nELEPHANT OF KNOWLEDGE,\nForge, Printiag! Flying Watch,\nMAGE SOTTLE,\nAPPLES OF BEELZEBUB,\nMAGIC EGGS, LOTEAL 440 with WARIETY -\nFART n.\nVENTRILOQUISI\n-\n-\nROGEERIES OF NICHOLAS.\nof the Creation, - - the Thruals, Blackbied.\nLark, A.\n- - - - - - de\nHir Surprising Poccers of Imitation,\nCHANGES OF CDUN.\n- - - Agwy - - the\nLND DECEPTIONS.\nPARTE 101.\nof Strength,\n- . SEPTO\nASTIC EXERCISES.\nthe Jir upou Nothing!!\n- - -\n- - - - Allesdance.\n- - -\n- - - - M. PABAER\n- MALE PRICE - - Fim -\n- - - - - Friday Morsing, at\n-\n- 2 -\nCollection.\nsumpension in 1832. From the Harry"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 258, "folder": "", "text": "Five Nights only.\nAT THE NEW ASSEMBLY ROOMS,\nThe celebrated CHING LAU LAURO,\nNorcules, and the - furope, Magaro, Nechanicies,\nof the - and veluable Mechssical, Optical, and Nagient Transformatives\n- whese Performances the greatest and\nthey\nhate\nbeen\neshibited.\nC.L.L. be had the of Serforming before thes \" the \" Rreghtee, and\nressived letter, by chais Mayesties commend, &m al approvel of ear% Perfermasce, wich\nSagether\nwith\nseveral\nothers\nfrom\nthe\nEarts\nof\nDewlogh,\nNredfent,\nMarquia\nleses\n. Nr Passs's, High etreet of whrth the folloning \" repy - Sie\nrese.\nSte,\nNy these I have to state that vour Performiece+ \" the Pevilion. . the isth of\nsembei were appreved of by these Majestive\nChing Les Lovre,\n- em vou' Servant\nSee Notel.\nH\nThe Nebility, Gestry. and the Publer of eiverhamptor and \" we s\u00e9formers the\nCHING AULAURO\nLATF or VAUNHALL GARDENS AND DHUNY LINE 1H1 ATKE\nWell have the beneut of appearing be fore them\nOn Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,\nNarch the 10th, lith, 12th, 13th, and 14th, 1934,\nTo Talente in . complete serice of Ammements. combreing-\nPART I.\nTHE CHEST OF ARCHIMEDES,\nAND\nThe Column of\nThese self-ecuing pleces of were recruted by the celebrated am! entraded\nthe Cablest of Curiosities at Paris, ber unforeces the\nGefore the completies of these Master pieces of Art, they sere dieposed of and\ngower - gratify the Public with anch advaired pieces of\nA Game at Whist, Time Flies, the Wax Candles Enchanted\nELEPHANT OF KNOWLEDGE,\nFulcan's Forge, Miraculous Printing Flying Watch,\nNAGIC BOTTLE,\nAPPLES OF BEELZEBUB,\nMAGEC mags, LOYAL NETAMORPHOSE, &c. with , \"\nII.LUSIONS TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION\nPART II.\nVENTRILOQUISII.\nCHINO LAU LAURO - the hesour to ansounce that, previons to bas return to Loudon to resume his\nEagagements, be bes been induced to preseet novel and popular SATIRICAL LEC TURE. and\nNOV DIVENTI<EMENT, en.itled\nROGUERIES OF NICHOLAS.\nImitations of the Feathered Crestion, such as the Thrush, Biackbird.\nNightingale, Sky Lark, &c.\nAlso vertraying a variety of Eecentric and Cheracters diawn from Nature. entroductory of\nHis Surprising Powers of Imitation,\nORIGINAL ANECDOTES, INCONCEPTIBLE CHANGES OF COUN-\nTENANCE, and extraordinary Illusions in ALIOI.OQUY, (erroneously ternied\nVentriloquy.) explaining its Ageucy in producing the numberles\nMYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA, WOVDERS, AND DECEITIONS.\nPART m.\nFeats of Strength,\nIN THE CHARACTER or A CHINESE BUTFO\nGYMNASTIC EXERCISES.\nAnd will conclude wonderful Entertalaments by\nSitting in the Air upon Nothing\nA:\nthe same time play bith the GOLDEN BALLS. &c.\nA Quadrille Band will be in Attendanco.\nDese se be opened at Seven and the Performance to commence at Quarter before Eight.\nFRONT\nSEATA, 2.-BACK SEATS. I.-CHILDKEN HALF PRICE to the Front Seate anly\nTICKETS to be had at Mr PARKE'S, High-street.\nwill be given on Friday Merning, at half-past\nTwolve o'Clock.\nPerte. y -\nChing Lau Lauro handbill featuring suspension in 1832. From the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\n[231"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 312, "folder": "", "text": "For Six Nights only.\nBY PERMISSION OF\nthe Night the Atayor.\nIn the Large Room, opposite the Custom-House,\nIN WHITEFRIAR-GATE\nThe Inhabitanits of HULL and its yicinity are respeeifully informed, that\nOn Wednesday Evening, Aug. 26, 1818.\nAnd Thursday, Priday, Satarday, Monday ind Eveninge following,\nThe Indian\nJugglers\nWill exhibil their unrivalled Performances:\nThese extraordinary Indians are Natives of Seringapatani, and have been eihibiting for some\ntume past in the Metropolis, before many of the Nobility, who unanimiously pronouaced them to\nbe the first Masters of the Art in this Kingdom.\nAmongst the semerous Performances the follewing may be acticed:\nVarious Deceptions with Cups and Balls;\nCHANGING SAND TO DIFFERENT COLOURS;\nA SERIES or\nEVOLUTIOS\nWith Four hollow Brass Balls, about the size of Oranges.\nThe pewer of the Jeggiot over these is miraculess he causes them to describe every possible Circle-horidontally,\npendiculasiy, obliquely. transversely, rosed his Legs, under bis abost his Head, in small and lange Circumferences,\nwith wondross rapidity, and keeping the whole is Motion at the same timo. This being the solo fruit of Elort, Activity.\nquickesse of Eye, and rapidity of Motion, ao one who has not witocsacd it can form as iden of its excellenco. This part of\nthe Performsece will be accumpanied with Music\nSTRINGING BEADS WITH HIS MOUTH,\nAe the rame time terning Ringt with bi, Fingers and Tees.\nWonberful geat with Large\nTOGETHER WITH SEVERAL\nFeats of Balancing,\nla which ome of the Indians hes a School Doy's common Peg-top, which be commences to spia with great relocity in bis\nhand, and from theace conveys it os a point as hac as a Needle, Which is balenced on his Chie, and in this situation makes\net bow to the Company, while revelving on the before -mentioned point, and afterwards restorce it b, the Werd of Commund,\nto the Equilibriam sad Stcadiness as whes first spea.\nErecting a curious Pagoda on the top of his Nose,\nAND ASNOVING THE SANE WITH INGENUITY.\nHis manly activity in throwing a Large Ball, the size.\nof an Eighteen-pound Shot,\nTo parts of his Body, with the greatest case be places it betwcen bis Foet, and throws is over his Shoulder,\nwhes it alights on his Ara. and thea with the greatest throws it on the back part of his Neck, and after display.\ning . variety of Gambols of this sort, be finally, bet with a masterly jerk,\nThrows this Ball of Twelve Pounds round his Head,\nthe assistence of his llands; and several other Achievements, too sumerous to mestion in the limits of a lland\nHandbill used by the original Indian jugglers in England during 1818, in\nwhich the sword-swallowing trick is featured. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\n[283]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 1, "folder": "", "text": "Google\nThis is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a\nproject\nto make the world's books discoverable online.\nIt has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject\nto\ncopyright\nor\nwhose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books\nare our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.\nMarks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the\npublisher to a library and finally to you.\nUsage guidelines\nGoogle is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the\npublic\nand\nwe\nare\nmerely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to\nprevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.\nWe also ask that you:\n+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for\npersonal, non-commercial purposes.\n+\nRefrain\nfrom\nautomated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine\ntranslation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the\nuse of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.\n+ Maintain attribution The Google \"watermark\" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find\nadditional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.\n+\nKeep\nit\nlegal\nWhatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just\nbecause we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users\nin\nother\ncountries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of\nany specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner\nanywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.\nAbout Google Book Search\nGoogle's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers\ndiscover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web\nat http://books.google.com/"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 29, "folder": "", "text": "H Eranion\nLast photograph of Henry Evans Evanion, conjurer and collector, taken\nespecially for this book in which he was deeply interested. Died June 17th.\n1905. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[ 22]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 366, "folder": "", "text": "ILLUSTRATIONS\nPAGE\nEckartshausen's Clock Trick\n160\nEngraving, Reproduction of, from an Old German Encyclopedia\n227\nEvanion, Henry Evans\n22\nExposure of Barney Eagle\n154,155\nFaber, Professor, Hanger Advertising Talking Machine\n9\u00b0\nFalck Poster Used in 1835\n183\nFawkes Advertisement\n60,61,62\nFawkes Clipping\n64,65,66,67\nFawkes, Isaac, Portrait\n59\nFrikell, Herr und Frau\n3\u00b0\nFrikell Villa\n28\nFrikell, Wiljalba, in His Youth\n297\nGarnerin Poster Used in 1815\n120\nGoose Poster\n220\nGyngell, Lithograph\n126\nGyngell, Portrait of\n122\nGyngell Poster Used in 1816\nI2I\nGyngell Programme of 1823\n125\nHaddock Advertisement, 1706\n166\nHandbill Advertising the Fake Automatic Artist, 1826\nIII\nHardeen, Theo. Weiss\n25\nHeimburger, Alexander, Illustration\n24\u00b0\nHeimburger, Alexander, Portrait of\n238\nHeimburger, Alexander, Poster\n242\nHeller, Robert and Haidee, Portraits.\n202\nHeller, Robert, Grave of\n208\nHeller, Robert, Programme of 1851, only one in existence\n204\nHeller Poster Used in 1853\n206\nHerrmann, Compars, Billings\n196,19\nHerrmann, Compars, Portrait\n194\nHerrmann, Compars, Programme\n232\nHocus-Pocus, Frontispiece Second Edition, 1635\n10\nHofzinser, Johann Nep, Engraving\n162\nHogarth's Engraving Entitled 'Taste'\n7\u00b0\nHone's Every Day Book,\" Reproduction of page 226\n68\nHoudin and Son Emile\n201\nHoudin Bas-Relief\n47\nHoudin Grave\n46\nHoudin, Robert\n8,24,34,41,48\nHoudin, Robert, Favorite Lithograph for Advertising Purposes\n38\nHoudin, Robert, First Appearance before Queen Victoria\n39\nHoudin, Robert, Poster Used at Sadler's Wells, 1853\n44\n[iii]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 367, "folder": "", "text": "ILLUSTRATIONS\nPAGE\nHoudin, Robert, Poster Used at St. James Theatre, London\n40\nHoudin, Robert, Poster Used for Emile Houdin Benefit, 1848\n43\nHoudin, Robert, Poster Used in London, 1848\n42\nHoudin, Robert, Poster Used in 1852\n223,224\nHoudin, Robert, Poster Used to Advertise His Trapeze Perform-\nance\n167\nHoudin, Robert, Programme for the Opening of Robert Houdin's\n*\nTheatre in Paris\n37\nHoudin, Robert, The only Poster Showing his Complete Stage-\nsetting\n36\nHoudini, Harry\nFrontispiece\nIndian Basket Trick\n276,277,279\nIndian Juggler's Handbill\n283\nIngleby's Book Frontispiece\n259\nIngleby Handbill Dated 1808\n258\nJacobs, M., Lithograph\n158\nJacobs Poster Featuring the Travelling Card\n151\nJefferini Handbill Dated 1833\n256\nKatterfelto\n165\nKatterfelto Clipping of 1782\n161\nLauro, Ching Lau, Handbill\n23I\nLe Confiseur Galant\n139\nLeschot, Jean Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric, Portrait\n95\nLouis Programme of 1815\n108\nMacallister, Andrew, Portrait\n193\nMacallister, Domingo\n134\nMacallister Programme\n192\nM'Kean, Master, Front and Back of Original Handbill distributed\nin London Streets in 1831\n213\nManfrede, Blasius de Manfre or Blaise, Rare Woodcut\n272\nMarchand, Floram\n275\nMarriot Programme Featuring Cabalistic Art in 1831\n255\nMysterious Lady Billing\n215\nMysterious Lady Cut\n2 1 6\nNeve, Richard, Frontispiece, 1715\n17\nPhilipsthal, de, Poster Used in 1811\n104\nPhilipsthal Programme of 1806\n173\nPhilipsthal Programme of 1803\n102,103\nPhillippe and Assistant Domingo\n134\nPhillippe Lithograph, 1842\n137\nPhillippe Poster\n184\nPhillippe Poster Used in 845-46\n132\n[iv]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 352, "folder": "", "text": "ILLUSTRATIONS\nPAGE\nPhillippe, Reproduction of Pastel Portrait\n13\u00b0\nPinchbeck, Jr., Christopher, A Very Rare Mezzotint\n57\nPinchbeck, Sr\n53\nPinetti Clipping of 1784\n2T0\nPinetti, I. I., Portrait of\n73\nPinetti, I. I., Woodcut Used in 1796\n72\nPinetti's Autograph\n79\nPinetti's Book Frontispiece\n78\nPorta, John Baptist\nII\nPoster of the Learned Goose\n220\nPoster Used for Benefit of de Philipsthal, 1829\nIIO\nProgrammes and Posters Reproduced, 26, 37,39.40,42,43,44.81,\n102, 193, 104, 108, IIO, III, II3, II4, 118, 120, 121, 125, 132,\n147. 150, 151, 154, I 55, 156, 161, 167, 170, 173, 182, 183, 184,\n188,189,191,192,196,197,204,206,212,214,215,216,220,\n221,223,224,231,232,234,242,253.254,255,256,258,261,\n269,272,282,283,292,309,311.\n3\u00b03\nRannin Lithograph, Showing Him Doing Sword-Walking Act\n269\nRobin, Henri\n198\nRobin, M. and Mme., in Second Sight\n218\nSamee, Ramo, Handbill\n282\nSavren, James, Poster Used by, in 1855\n26\nSchmidt Programme Used in 1827\n113\nSchmidt Poster\nIT4\nSchmidt Programme of 1821\n182\nSuspension Chloriforeene Lithograph\n234\nThiodon Bill of 1825\n173\nTestot, Programme Featuring Cabalistic Art in 1826\n254\nTestot Rare Handbill Printed about 1800\n253\nWater Spouter\n272\nWater Spouter and Juggler\n275\nWhite, John\n15\nWhole Art of Legerdemain, Frontispiece from Ingleby's Book\n259\nWiegleb's Diagram of Orange-Tree Trick\n52\nWitgeest's, Simon, Frontispiece from Book of Natural Magic, 1682\n13\nWriting and Drawing Figure from Manning's Robert-Houdin\nBrochure\n84\nYoung, E. W., Lithograph\n152"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 365, "folder": "", "text": "ILLUSTRATIONS\nPAGR\nBreslaw Lithograph\n164\nBuck, English Conjurer, Only Portrait Known\n257\nBuck Handbill Dated 1844\n261\nCabalistic Art\n254\nCabalistic Art Featured on Marriott Programme in 1831\n255\nCabalistic Art Featured on Testot Programme in 1826\n254\nCabinet Trick Offered by Davenport Brothers\n200\nCagliostro, Comtesse de, Portrait of\n251\nCagliostro, l'Almanach de, The Brahmin's Suspension\n229\nCagliostro, Rare Pastel Portrait\n248\nCharles Poster Used in 1820.\n128\nChinese Magicians\n227\nChing Lau Lauro Handbill\n23X\nClipping Advertising the Writing and Drawing Figures Exhibited\nby Jacquet Droz\n99\nClipping of 1812 Proving the Partnership of de Philipsthal and\nMaillardet\n197\nClipping Used by Christopher Pinchbeck in 728\n54\nClock Trick, Eckartshausen's\n160\nCornillot, M., Reproduction of Handbill\n81\nDavenport Brothers' Announcement\n292\nDavenport Brothers\n14\nDavenport Brothers' Cabinet Trick\n200\nDavenport Brothers in Their Prime, Portraits of\n288\nDecremps, Henri\n74\nDecremps Signature\n76\nD\u00f6bler, Farewell Programme\n180\nD\u00f6bler, Ludwig, Portrait\n187,\n100\nD\u00f6bler Programme\n19.1\nD\u00f6bler Programme Dated 1842\n188\nDomingo Macallister\n134\nDon Carlos, \"the Double-sighted Dog Billing Used\n221\nDroz Automaton\n96,98\nDroz Figure of Cupid\n80\nDroz, Henri-Louis Jacquet\n94\nDroz, Jacquet, Drawing Figure\nTOO\nDroz, Pierre Jacquet, Portrait of\n02\nDroz Writing Automaton Specimens in 1796\n86\nDutchwoman, Decoration Used to Advertise\n214\nEagle, Barnardo, Frontispiece from Eagle's Book\n153\nEagle, Barney, Poster\n156\nEckartshausen's Automatic Rope Vaulter\n169\n[ii]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 340, "folder": "", "text": "IM SARL.\nDienstag, dem 25. Januar 1648.\nNeue und ausserordentliche\nVORSTELLUNG\nim Gebiete der\nNAT\u00dcRLICHEN' ZAUBEREI,\nmit H\u00fclfe der Experimental-Physik, Mechanik,\nElectricit\u00e4t, Hydraulik und des Galvanismus,\ngegeben von dem\ngrossen nordischen Zauberer\nProfessor\nI.\nANDERSON aus London\nbekannt in England unter dem Namen:\n\"THE GREAT WIZARD OF THE NORTH.\"\nHerr Professor Anderson schmeicheit sich mit der Hoffunn. dass seine Productio-\nnea, welche in LONBON.PETERSBURG, BERLIN.STOCKHOLN, COP\u00c9NHAGEN und zuletzt in HAMBURG\ndie chrendste Amerkennung fanden. sich auch der Theilnahme des hiesigem hochverehrlichen\nPublikums erfreuen werden.\nProgra me m.\nErste Abtheilung:\n1. Zwei fliehende Schnapfl\u00fccher.\n2. Die wonderbare M\u00fchle und der gelebrte \u00c4gyptier.\n3. Ein neues Zauberspiel, genannt die apsserordentliche Metamorphose.\n4. Der Todte wird lebend, der Lebeade stirbt. (Neu.)\n5. Ein schuell zubereitetes Fr\u00fchst\u00fcck.\n6. Zum Erstenmale! Ausserordentliches Experiment: Herr Professor ANDERSON wird 6 Uhren\ndurch den K\u00f6rper. eines der Anwesenden passiren lassen, ohne dass derselbe lndi-\ngestionen bekomnit.\n7. Ein grosses Man\u00f6ver mit 12 Schnapfl\u00fcchern.\n8- Aus dem Hate irgend eines Anwesenden entwickeln sich auf den Wink des grossen\nZaubrers Tausende von Blumen-Bouquetts, Tausende von Flaggen aller Nationen,\nSchu\u00fcren, Puppen ect. sowie ein vollst\u00e4ndiges zweischl\u00e4friges Federbett.\nZweite Abtheilung:\n1. Banknoten und Preussische Thalerscheine halten die Feuerprobe.\n2 Die gehorsame Flasche.\n3. Die sprechenden und tanzenden Thaler.\n4. Das Wasser wird lebend.\n5. Die schnelle W\u00e4sche. Ein gitter Rath f\u00fcr unerfahrne Hausm\u00fctter.\n6. Die \u00e4gyptischen Wunder.\nPreise der Pl\u00e4tze\nErster Platz 16 Ggr. Zweiter Platz 8 Ggr. Gallerie 4 Ggr.\nCassen-Oeffnung 6 Uhr. Anfang 7 Uhr.\nEatr\u00e9e-Billets sind am Tage der Vorstellung im Ballhofs-Saale bei\nHerrn Evers, zu erhalten.\nHandbill used by Anderson in Germany. January, 1848, when Robert-\nHoudin claimed that he was playing in the English provinces. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\n[311]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 369, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGB\nTolmaque\n289\nTrick, Suspension\n49,222,31\nTom and Jerry\n230\nTrick, Suspension, Ethereal,\nTom Thumb, Gen\n24I\n222-312\nTorrini, 35,38,52,140,209,\nTrick, Suspension, Chlorifo-\n250,300,301\nreene\n233\nToulet, Mlle. Louise\n289\nTrick, Suspension, of Sheshal 230\nTours de Cartes et de Gibe-\nTrick, The Inexhaustible Bot-\nci\u00e8re\n279\ntle\n49,312\nTravelling Bottle\n185,188\nTrick, The Pastry Cook of the\nTravelling Card, Poster of\nPalais Royal\n49\nJacobs.\n151\nTrick, The Vaulting Trapeze\nTribune, New York\n240,241\nAutomaton\n49, 141\nTrick, Apple-Tree\n5 I\nTrick, Watch in Loaf of\nTrick, Basket, Illustrations,\nBread\n276,277,279\nTrick, Writing and Drawin~\nTrick, Bell\n242\nFigure\n49\nTrick Cabinet of the Daven-\nTwo Elegant Automata\n172\nport Brothers\n290\nTrick, Chinese, of Climbing\nUnmasking of Robert-Hou-\ninto Air\n227\ndin\n33\nChinese, Reproduction\nUre, Andrew, M.D\nof\n227\nT. rick Clock, Diagram of\nI 60\nVan Esten, Mr\n168\nTrick Disappearing Hand-\nVaucanson\n41,95\nkerchief\n245-254\nVerlag. Heusers\n287\nTrick, Indian Basket,\nVoisin\n163\n276,277,291\nTrick. Magic Clock. Diagram\nWalking Cards, The\n156\nof\n160\nWater-spouter\n272,273,275\nTrick, Mystic\n163\nWater-spouter and Juggler\n27.\nTrick, Obedient Card, fea-\nWebster, Daniel\n243\ntured on a Barney Eagle\nWeiss, Rev. M. S.,\nPoster\n156\ndedication page\nTrick, Orange-Tree\n51-55\nWeiss, Ehrich (Harry Hot-\nTrick, Orange-Tree, Diagram\ndini)\nFrest. spi\u00e8ce\nof\n52\nWeiss, Theodore Hardeen 1\n25\nTrick, Rope-tying\n293\nWhite Magic\n35\nTrick, Second Sight 49,200,312\nWhite Magic Exposed\nTrick, Secret of Trained Bird\nWhite, John\nI2\nand Bell\n243\nWhite, John, Portrait of\n15\nTrick, Shoulder of Mutton\nWiegleb, Johann Cliristian\n14\nand Card\n257\nWillmann, Carl\n305\n1-\nGENERAL BOOKBINDING co.\n125ST\nC34\n6017\n75\n53\nED\nQUALITY CONTROL MARK"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 354, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nAdelphia Theatre\n256\n185, 191, 233,235,289,297\nAdvertisement from the Lon-\n308-310\ndon Daily Post during 1730\nAnderson, Mrs. Hannah\n146\nshowing the Orange Tree\nAnderson, Mrs. Leona A., as\nas Offered by the Senior\nshe Appeared in the Sus-\nFawkes\n55\npension Trick\n236\nAlbum des Soir\u00e9es\n217\nAnderson Poster,\nAlexander the Conjurer\n233\nAlexander the Conjurer, Illus-\nAnderson Window Poster Ex-\ntration\n240\nposing Barney Eagle\n155\nAllen, Prof. George\n267\nAnnouncement used by Day-\nAlthotas\n251,252\nenport Brothers\n292\nAmerican Magicians, Society\nAntonio\n302\nof\n307\nApple-tree Trick\n5r\nAnatomie of Legerdemain\n180\nAppleby's Weekly\n55\nAnciens et Nouveaux Tours\nA rts, Manufactures a n d\nd'Escamotage\n279\nMines, Dictionary of\n9. I\nAnderson and Son Lithograph\nAstley, Philip, Esq., An His-\npresenting\n'Suspension\ntorical Circus Director\n19\nChloriforeene\"\n234\nAstley, Philip, Esq., Portrait\nAnderson Billing of 1838\n150\nof\n19\nAnderson's Book Cover-de-\nAstor Library\n24I\nsign\n148\nAstronomic Musical Clock\n55\nAnderson Handbill used in\nAufschl\u00fcsse zur Magie, Repro-\nHannover, Germany\n311\nduction of an Illustration. 169\nAnderson, J. H., 14, 23, 25,\nAutograph a n d Portrait,\n119,131,145\nPierre Jacquet-Droz\n92\nAnderson, J. H., Lithograph,\nAutograph of Decremps,\n75\n186,317\nAutomata, Two Elegant\n172\nAnderson, J. H., Portrait of\nAutomaton Chess Player, 266, 267\nWife and Son\n146\nAutomaton Trapeze\n166\nAnderson, J. H., Very Rare\nAutomaton Writer of Jac-\nPoster used in 1838, 147,\nquet-Droz\n96\n[321]\n1"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 355, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nBalls, Crystal\n222\nBosco\n235,298,302,393\nBalsamo, Joseph\n250\nBosco, Bartolomeo, Photo-\nBamberg\n235\nengraving of\n3\u00b0\nBarnum, P. T....43.85.241) 296\nBosco's Grave, Photograph of 306\nBarnum, P. T., Portrait of\n86\nBosco, Madame, Photogmaph\nBarrel, The Inexhaustible\n180\nof\n305\nBartholomew Fair Memoirs,\nBottle, Inexhaustible, 176,\nby Morley\n16\n181, 84, 186, 188, 195, 222\nBasch, Ernst\n49.138\nBottle, Infernal, Poster used\nBasch, Ernst, and Le Confi-\nby Phillippe\n184\nseur Galant, Photograph\n139\nBottle, Magic\n192\nBasket Trick, Indian\n276,277\nBottle of Sobriety and In-\nBasket Trick, Indian Boy. II-\nebriety\n182\nlustration\n279\nBottle, Travelling\n185\nBatuta, Ian\n226\nBox, Crystal\n222\nBeckett, Mr\n219\nBrahmin Suspension Hlus-\nBeckmann\n211\ntration\n220\nBeckmann's, John, History of\nBreslaw\n3.143.103.209, 221\nInventions and Discoveries\nBreslaw, Book on Magic,\nPublished in 1797\n14\nFrontispiece of\n144\nBell Trick\n242\nBreslaw Lithograph\n164\nBenton\n143\nBreslaw, Triple Colored Lith-\nBerthoud's Treatise on\nograph of\n164\nClockmaking\n35\nBrewster, Sir David\n181\nBertram, Charles\n16\nBrick-mason Macallister\n193\nBertram, Charles, Portrait of\n20\nBritten's Clock and Watch\nBilling used by Mysterious\nMaker\n56\nLady\n215\nBroken Heart, The\n286\nBilling used for the dog, Don\nBuck, Only Known Por-\nCarlos.\n221\ntrait\n257\nBiography, Dictionary of\nBuck Handbill\n261\nNational\n54\nBismarck\n7\nCabalistic Art featured on\nBlackstone\n7\nMarriott Programme\n255\nBlitz, Signor,\n4.235.267\nCabalistic Art featured on\nBlitz, Signor Antonio, Por-\nTestot Programme\n254\ntrait of\n18\nCabalistic or Obedient Clock,\nBoaz\n23\n156-157\nBolin, T\n49,163\nCabinet Trick offered by\nBologna\n116\nDavenport Brothers\n200\nBologna Bill of 1812\n170\nCabinet Trick Print\n290\nBologna Poster\n118\nCagliostro.\n72.250.252,254\n[322]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 356, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nCagliostro, Comtesse de, rare\nClipping from the London\nPortrait\n251\nTelegraph in March, 1812 107\nCagliostro, l'Almanach\n209\nClock and Watch Maker,\nCagliostro, Pastel Portrait of 248\nBritten's\n56\nCalhoun\n243\nClock, Astronomic Musical.\n55\nCard in the Pocket\n183\nClock Pedestal\n166\nCard Trick as featured by\nClock Trick, Diagram Ex-\nAnderson in 1836-1837\n142\nposes\n160\nCards, The Obedient\n141-156\nClockmaking, Berthoud's\nCaroly's L'Illusionniste\n199\nTreatise on\n35\nCastinia, Sieur\n166\nConfectioner's Shop\n166\nCentury of Inventions\n281\nConfidences d'un Prestidigita-\nCharles\n116,127\nteur\n300\nCharles Poster dated about\nConfidence et R\u00e9v\u00e9lations\n49\n821\n128\nConjurer Unmasked, The,\nChess Congress, Book of First\n74.75.168\nAmerican\n267\nConjurer's Pocket, The\n160\nChess Player, Automaton, 266, 267\nComment on Devient Sorcier 265\nChinese Trick, Reproduction\nCook, the Pastry, of the\nof an Engraving\n227\nPalais Royal\n116,172\nChing Lau Lauro Suspension 230\nCornillot\n25.52\nChing Lau Lauro Programme 231\nCornillot Handbill\n79\nChing Ling Foo.\n240\nCount Pererilli\n235\nChloriforeene Suspension.\n233\nCourse of Experimental Phi-\nChloriforeene Suspension,\nlosophy\n18:\nLithograph\n234\nCreation of Flowers\nIgo\nChronicle, The\n177\nCrystal Balls\n222\nCireus Director Astley\n10\nCrystal Box\n222\nCircus Life and Circus Celeb-\nCupid, The Figure of, as ex-\nrities\n16\necuted by the Droz Draw-\nClay, Henry\n243\ning Figure\n87\nClayton, Sir William\n49\nClipping from Newspaper fea-\nDale, E. J\n207\nturing Pinetti, Second Sight 2T0\nDavenport Brothers,\nClipping from Newspaper of\n149, ,287.289.291,316\nJacquet-Droz\n101\nDavenport Brothers, An-\nClipping from Newspaper of\nnouncement of\n202\nKatterfelto, from 1782\n161\nDavenport Brothers, Cabinet\nClipping from the London\nTrick of\n290\nDaily Post of Nov. 3\u00b0,\nDavenport Brothers, Photo-\n1728, used by Christopher\ngraphs of\n288\nPinchbeck\n54\nDean, Henry\n180\n[323]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 358, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nFaber, Prof\n88\nGantziony, Natural and Un-\nFalaise, James de\n275\nnatural Magic, dated 1489 I 2:\nFalck of Koenigsberg,\nGarde Fran\u00e7aise\n222\n182, 183, 184\nGarnerin\n116,119\nFalck of Koenigsberg Poster 183\nGarnerin Poster\nI20\nFantastic Portfolio\n222\nGarrick Theatre\n286\nFather of English Prose\n226\nGazette, Evening\n24I\nFawkes\n14, 51, 52, 56,58\nGentlemen's Magazine\n56\nFawkes Advertisement\n55,60\nGlobe, The\n177\nFawkes, Isaac, Portrait of, 59, 68\nGoose, Learned\n219\nFawkes Newspaper Clipping,\nGoose, Learned, Poster\n220,\n61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67\nGrande Initiation au vraie\nFeliciani, Seraphinia, Com-\nPratique des C\u00e9l\u00e8bres Phy-\ntesse de Cagliostro, rare\nsiciens-Prestidigitateurs.\n278:\nPortrait\n251\nGrave of Bartolomeo Bosco\n306\nFifty Years in the Magic Cir-\nGrave of Robert Heller\n208.\ncle\n267\nGrave of Robert-Houdin\n46.\nFlora's Gift\n183,100\nGrisy, Count Edmond de\n38:\nFlowers, Creation of\n190\nGuillon, Marie Catherine\n33:\nFlowers, Origin of\n222\nGun Delusion, The\n128,155\nFrikell, Herr und Frau, Por-\nGutle, Johann Conrad\n163,\ntrait of\n3\u00b0\nGuyot's Physical and Math-\nFrikell, Villa\n28\nematical Recreations\n14.3.\nFrikell, Wiljalba, 9, 26,27\nGyngell,\n29,31.32,235,296,299\n25,116,121,124,166,172\nFrikell, Wiljalba, in his\nGyngell's Colored Lithograph 126.\nYouth\n297\nGyngell's Letter to Evanion 124\nFrontispiece from Breslaw's\nGyngell's Portrait\nI22\nBook on Magic\n144\nGyngell's Poster\nI2I\nFrontispiece from Eagle's\nGyngell's Programme\n125\nBook\n259\nFrontispiece from Hocus Po-\nHaddock\n105,116,117\ncus, second edition of 1635,\nHaddock Advertisement\n106\nIO-12\nHalle, Johann Samuel\n14\nFrontispiece from Ingleby's\nHalle's, Johann Samuel, Ma-\nBook, Whole Art of Leger-\ngic or The Magical Power\ndemain\n259\nof Nature\n14.\nFrontispiece from Richard\nHamilton\n45, 28q.\nNeve's Book on Magic\n17\nHandbill Advertising the\nFrontispiece from Simon\nFake Automatic Artist\nIII\nWitgeest\n13\nHandbill of Buck\n261\nFrost, Thomas.\n16,228\nHandbill of Ingleby\n258:\n1325]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 359, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nHandbill of Jefferini\n256\nHistory of Inventions\n211\nHandbill of Original Indian\nHistory of Inventions and\nJugglers\n283\nDiscoveries, by John Beck-\nHandbill of Ramo Samee.\n282\nmann\n14\nHandbill of Testot\n253\nHobbs, Hart & Cou, London 28:\nHandbill, Reproduced Front\nHocus-Poeus\n43. TSo\nand Back, used to Adver-\nHoeus-Pocus, Frontispiece\ntise Master M'Kean\n: 212\nsecond edition. 1635\n10,12\nHandbill used by Anderson\nHoffmann, Professor,\nin Germany\n311\n265, 278,279. 281, 286\nHandkerchief, Disappearing,\nHofzinser, Johann Nep., rare\n245-254\nEngraving of\n162\nHardee's \"Tactics\"\n7\nHooper's Recreations\n211\nHeads of King George and\nHoudin, Cecile Eglantine\n33\nQueen Charlotte, executed\nHoudin. Emile\n47\nin their Presence by Droz\nHoudin, Emile, Benefit Post-\nDrawing Figure in 1774\n100\ner at St. James Theatre in\nHebb, William\n62\n1848.\n42\nHeimburger, Alexander, II-\nHoudin, Favorite Lithograph\nlustration\n24\u00b0\nfor Advertising Purpos\u00e9s\nHeimburger, Alexander. Pho-\nused by Robert-Houdin\n38\ntograph of\n238\nHoudin, Jean-Eugene Ro-\nHeimburger, Alexander, Pro-\nbert- Portrait taken in 1868\n34\ngramme, the Suspension\nHoudin Poster announcing\nTrick\n242\nthe Appearance of Robert-\nHeimburger, Herr\n233.237\nHoudin before Queen Vic-\nHeller, Robert\n205,207\ntoria and her Court\n39\nHeller, Robert and Haidee,\nHoudin Poster used during\nPortraits of\n202\nan Eastern Engagement at\nHeller, Robert, Grave\n208\nthe St. James Theatre,\nHeller, Robert, Programme. - 204\nLondon\n49\nHeller, Robert, Poster\n206\nHoudin Programme for the\nHenry, M\n116,125\nOpening of Robert-Houdin\nHerald, New York\n241\nTheatre in Paris, July 3.\nHerrmann, Alexander\n179\n845\n37\nHerrmann, Compars,\nHoudin, Robert-, 7. 16, 23,\n25, 195,233,235,296,297,299\n35. 38. 45,\nHerrmann, Compars, Best\n50, 52. 195. 197. 235\nPortrait in Existence\n194\nHoudin, Robert-, and Son\nHerrmann. Compars, Billing 196\nEmile, Illustration pre-\nHerrmann, Compars, Pro-\nsenting Second Sight......\n201\ngrammes\n197,232\nHoudin. Robert-, as he ap-\n[326]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 368, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nHenri, Second Sight. 218\nSpirit Bell\n24\nl'Almanach de Ca-\nSuspension, Brahmin Illustra-\nTO\n229\ntion\n229\nge, George, & Co\n278\nSuspension Chloriforeene.\n233\nJules de\n116, 128\nSuspension Chloriforeene\nlarence Theatre\n256\nLithograph\n234\nInn\n166\nSuspension, Ethereal\n222,312\nSuspension featured by Com-\nW\n217\npars Herrmann, a Pro-\nerz\n28q\ngramme of 1848\n232\nRamo, Handbill. 282, 286\nSuspension Trick\n222\nJames\n25\nSuspension Trick, As Mrs.\nJames, Poster\n26\nLeona A. Anderson ap-\nberg\n267\npeared\n236\n112, 116,172,181 182\nSuspension Trick, Programme\nPoster\n114\nPresenting, by Alexander\nProgrammeof 1821, 182\nHeimburger\n242\nProgramme used in\nSuspension Trick used by\n113\nRobert-Houdin\n224\nic Amusements\n35\nSight\n200\nTalking Machine, Hanger\nSight, by M. and Mme.\nAdvertisement\n88\n218\nTaste, Engraving by Hogarth\n7\u00b0\nSight, Illustration\n201\nTestot Handbill\n253\nSight of the Young\nTestot, M. F\u00e9lix\n255\nlanders\n214\nTestot Programme featuring\nde la Prestidigitation 49\nCabalistic Art\n254\nof Conjuring and\nTheatre, Adelphia\n256\n265,278\nTheatre, Garrick\n286\nof Magic\n49,302\nTheatre, Liverpool\n256\nof Stage Conjuring.\nTheatre, Robert-Houdin\n47\n279,281,299\nTheatre, Royal Clarence\n256\n230\nThe Secrets of Conjuring and\nonfectioner's\n166\nMagic\n265-278\nre of Decremps\n75\nThe Secrets of Stage Conjur-\nElder & Co\n54\ning\n279, 281, 299\nof American Magi-\nThe Temple of the Muses\n56\n397\nThe Trapeze Automaton....\n166\nens of Penmanship\nThe Trapeze Performer\n168\nited by Droz's Writing\nThe Trapeze Tumbler\n222\nmaton in 1796 and\nThiodon Bill of 1825\n173.1 174\nrespectively\n84\nThree Talented Highlanders. 214\n[331]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 361, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nLee, Sidney\n54\nlin in 1784 by Johann\nLe Manuel des Sorciers\n279\nSamuel Halle\n14\nLe Prieur\u00e9\n49\nMagic, The Old and the New,\nL'Escalopier, Count de\n43,280\nby H. R. Evans\n16\nLes Radiations Lumineuses.\n49\nMagie des XIX. Jahrhun-\nLes Secrets de la Prestidigita-\nderts von Uriarte\n287\ntion et de la Magie\n278\nMagie et Physique amusante,\nLes Tricheries des Grecs\n49\n49,279\nLetter to Evanion from Gyn-\nMahomet\n285\ngell\n124\nMaillardet\n105\nLetters on Natural Magic\n181\nMandeville, Sir John\n11,226\nLe Voltigeur Trapeze\n166\nManfrede, Blaise\n271,274\nLewis, Angelo J\n265\nManfrede, Blaise, Wood-cut. 272\nLithograph of Rannin doing\nMarchand, Floram\n274\nthe Sword-walking Act\n269\nMarchand, Floram, Publica-\nLithograph showing All of\ntion\n275\nPhillippe's Tricks\n137\nMarriott, the Celebrated, Pro-\nLiverpool Theatre\n256\ngramme featuring Cabal-\nLives of the Conjurers\n16,228\nistic Art\n255\nLondon Daily Post Clipping\nMartin, Henri\n104\nof Christopher Pinchbeck,\nMartinka, Francis J\n207\nfrom Nov. 30, 1728\n54\nMaskelyne\nIIO\nLondon Telegraph Clipping\nMasonic Order\n252\nof March, 1812\n107\nMateria Prima\n252\nLouis Programme\n108,171\nMechanism, View of Jacquet-\nDroz Writing Machine\n98\nMacallister\n134,135,195\nMelies, M\n48\nMacallister, Andrew, Por-\nMemoirs of Marquis de Mer-\ntrait of\n193\nville\n287\nMacallister, Brick-mason.\n193\nMemoirs, Robert-Houdin's,\nMacallister Programme\n192\n14-51, 52, 176, 203, 217,\nM'Kean, Louis Gordon\n213\n2 22,225,245,266,268,280,\nM'Kean, Master, Handbill\n212\n295,296,300,302,318\nMacKenzie, R. Shelton\n49,265\nMerode, Cleo de\n3I\nMa\u00eblzel\n266,267\nMerville, Memoirs of Marquis\nMag, Miss Matilda\n289\nde\n287\nMagazine, Gentlemen's\n56\nMezzotint of Christopher\nMagic Bottle\n192\nPinchbeck, Jr\n57\nMagic, Natural and Unnat-\nMezzotint of Christopher\nural, by Gantziony\n1 2\nPinchbeck, Sr\n53\nMagic, or the Magical Power\nMitchell, Dr. J. K\n266\nof Nature, printed in Ber-\nMitchell, John\n45,297\n[328]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 362, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nModern Magician\n239\nOrigin of Flowers\n222\nMorley's Memoirs of Bartho-\nOriginal Billing used by Mys-\nlomew Fair\n16\nterious Lady\n215\nMorse, S. F. B\n24I\nMortimer, Dr. W. Golden\n207\nPastel Portrait of Cagliostro. 248\nMortimer's Mysteries\n207\nPastry Cook of the Palais\nMoving Pictures\n67\nRoyal\n116,172,193\nMysterious Lady, Billing used\nPedestal Clock\n166\nby\n215\nPepper, Mr\n299\nMysterious Lady, Cut of\n216\nPererilli, Count\n235\nMystic Bell Trick, The\n163\nPhantasmagoria, A de Phil-\nipsthal Programme\n102,103\nNaconnier, Fran\u00e7oise Mar-\nPhilipsthal's Programme of\nguerite Olympe\n33\n806\n173\nNarrowness of Robert-Hou-\nPhillippe, 23, 45, 116, 129,\ndin's Memoirs\n295\n133, 135, 184, 185, 193, 195\nNatural Magic, by Johann\nPhillippe Lithograph and his\nChristian Wiegleb\n14\nScotch Assistant Domingo. 134\nNatural Magic, by Simon\nPhillippe Pastel Portrait\n130\nWitgeest\nI 2\nPhillippe Poster\n132,184\nNatural Magic Frontispiece\n13\nPhillippe Poster featuring\nNatural Magick in XX Bookes\nthe Infernal Bottle\n184\nby John Baptist Porta\nI 2\nPhilosophy, Course of Exper-\nNeve, Richard\n14\nimental\n181\nNeve, Richard, Frontispiece,\nPhoto-engraving of Bartolo-\nWork on Magic\n17\nmeo Bosco\n301\nNewspaper, The Lady's\n177\nPhotograph of Alexander\nNiblo's Garden\n24I\nHeimburger\n238\nNoriet, M\n35\nPhotograph of Bosco's Grave 306\nNouveau Manuel Complet\nPhotograph of Mme. Bosco.\n305\nSorciers, les sc\u00e8nes de Ven-\nPinchbeck, Christopher,\ntriloquie\n279\n52, 54, 56, 58\nNouveile Magie Blanche D\u00e9-\nPinchbeck, Christopher, Jr.,\nvoil\u00e9e et Cours Complet de\na very rare Mezzotint\n57\nPrestidigitation\n278\nPinchbeck, Christopher, Sr.,\nThe Oldest and Rarest\nObedient Cards, The\n141-156\nMezzotint in the Wor'd\nOld and New Magic\n16\nPertaining to the History\nOld London Fairs\n16\nof Magic\n53\nOld Showman, The\n16\nPinchbeck, Clipping from\nOpre\n140\nLondon Daily Post of Nov.\nOrange Trick\n51-55\n30. 1729\n54\n[329]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 363, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\nPinetti, 23,35, 38, 52, 69, 71,\nProgramme of de Philipsthal\n73, 76, 171, 209, 2II, 213,\nBenefit\nIIO\n221, 298, 300, 301, 302\nProgramme of D\u00f6bler\n188\nPinetti, Chevalier\n182\nProgramme of Macallister\n192\nPinetti, Clipping featuring\nPunch\n177\nSecond Sight\n210\nPunch Cartoon reproduced,\nPinetti, Engraving of\n7\u00b2\nproving J. H. Anderson's\nPinetti, Signora\n211,213\nInexhaustible Bottle Trick 186\nPocket, Conjurer's\n160\nPolk, President\n243\nRamo Samee Handbill 282,286\nPolonnese\n1 7 2\nRannin Lithograph\n269\nPonsin, J. N\n278\nRannin Lithograph showing\nPorta, John Baptist\n12\nWalking on Swords\n269\nPorta, John Baptist, Por-\nRare Poster of Learned Goose 220\ntrait of\nII\nRaynaly, Mons. E\n69\nPortrait of Buck\n257\nRecreations, Hooper's\n2II\nPortrait of Compars Herr-\nRecreations, Physical a n d\nmann\n194\nMathematical, by Guyot\n143\nPortrait of Eugene Bosco\n315\nRecr\u00e9ations Physiques\n279\nPortrait of Henry E. Evanion\n22\nRedmond, Professor\n289\nPortrait of Henri Robin\n198\nReproduction of an Engrav-\nPortrait of Robert and\ning of Chinese Trick Climb-\nHaidee Heller\n202\ning into the Air\n227\nPortrait of Wiljalba Frikell\nReproduction of an Illustra-\nin His Youth\n297\ntion in \"Aufschl\u00fcsse zur\nPoster of Robert-Houdin on\nMagie'\n169\nwhich his Complete Reper-\nReproduction of Cartoon in\ntoire Appears\n224\nPunch, 1843, proving An-\nPoster used by Anderson in\nderson's Inexhaustible Bot-\nLondon, 1848\n313\ntle Trick\n186\nPoster used by Falck of Koe-\nReproduction of Handbill\nnigsberg\n183\nused to Advertise Master\nPoster used by Heller\n206\nM'Kean\n212\nPresident Polk\n235,243\nReproduction of Handbills\nPrint showing Cabinet Trick. 290\nused by Mysterious Lady. 216\nProgramme, Farewell, of D\u00f6-\nRobert, Jean-Eugene,\nbler\n189\n33,34,35,40\nProgramme of Anderson 848 309\nRobert, Prosper\n33\nProgramme of Ching Lau\nRobertson, E. G\n76\nLauro\n231\nRobin, Henri, 197,199,217\nProgramme of Compars Herr-\n289,296,297,298\nmann\n196,197,232\nRobin, Henri, Portrait of\n198\n[330]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 360, "folder": "", "text": "INDEX\nPAGE\nPAGE\npeared to the English Crit-\nIndian Jugglers Handbill 283\nics. Reproduced from the\nInexhaustible Bottle, The,\nIllustrated London News,\n176, 181, 184, 186, 188, 195, 222\nDecember 23, 1848\n4t\nInfernal Bottle Poster used\nHoudin, Robert-, Bas-relief\nby Phillippe in 1838\n184\non Tombstone\n47\nIngleby Handbill\n258\nHoudin, Robert-) Grave of\n46\nIngleby the Senior\n256,258\nHoudin, Robert-, last Photo-\nIngleby's Book, Frontispiece,\ngraph taken and used as\nWhole Art of Legerdemain 259\nthe Frontispiece for Mem-\nIntroduction\n7\noirs.\n48\nInventions, History of\n211\nHoudin. Robert-, only Poster\nshowing his Complete Stage\nJacobs, M.\n149,296,297\nSetting\n36\nJacobs, M. Portrait of\n158\nHoudin, Robert-, Portrait\n8\nJacobs, M., Poster\n151\nHoudin, Robert-, Poster on\nJefferini Handbill\n256\nwhich His Complete Reper-\nJefferini. Mr\n256\ntoire Appears\n223\nJeux de Soci\u00e9t\u00e9\n279\nHoudin, Robert- Poster used\nJugglers, Indian, Handbill\n283\nin London in 1848\n42\nJournal des Sciences\n268\nHoudin. Robert-, Poster used\nJournal. The Court\n177\nito Advertise His Trapeze\nPerformance\n167\nKatterfelto\n23,161,166\nHoudin, Robert- Poster when\nKatterfelto Clipping of 1782. 161\nhe Played at Sadler'sWells,\nKatterfelto Portrait\n165\nLondon, in 1853\n44\nKempelen, M. de\n266\nHoudin, Robert-, Rare Litho-\nKing George and Queen Char-\ngraph\n24\nlotte Heads, executed by\nHoudini, Harry, Portrait,\nthe Droz Drawing Figure\nFrontispiece\nin 1774\nTOO\nHow to Become a Wizard\n278\nKoin King, The, T. Nelson\nHulton, Charles\n181\nDowns\n265\nKraus, K. K\n260\nIllusionniste, The\n199\nIllustration of Hindoo Basket\nLady's Newspaper\n177\nTrick\n276,277,279\nL'Almanach Cagliostro\n299\nIllustration of the Brahmin\nLa Magie Blanche D\u00e9voil\u00e9e,\nSuspension\n229\nor White Magic Exposed,\nInaudi\n203\n35.52.211\nIndian Basket Trick,\nLearned Goose\n210\n276,277,279\nLearned Goose Poster\n220\nIndian Jugglers\n275\nLe Confiseur Galant\n137\n[327]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 34, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\n\"Herr verreist,\" meaning \"The master is on tour.\"\nThis, I knew, from his age, could not be true, SO\nI took a week off for personal investigation. I ar-\nrived at K\u00f6tchenbroda on the morning of April 8th,\n1903, at 4 o'clock, and was directed to his home, known\nas \"Villa Frikell.\" Having found my bearings and\nstudied well the exterior of the house, I returned to the\ndepot to await daylight. At 8:30 I reappeared at his\ndoor, and was told by his wife that Herr Frikell had\ngone away.\nI then sought the police department from which I\nsecured the following information: \"Dr.\" Wiljalba Frikell\nwas indeed the retired magician whom I was so anxious\nto meet. He was eighty-seven years old, and in 1884 had\ncelebrated his golden anniversary as a conjurer. Living in\nthe same town was an adopted daughter, but she could not\nor would not assist me. The venerable magician had suf-\nfered from domestic disappointments and had made a VOW\nthat he would see no one. In fact he was leading a\nhermit-like life.\nArmed with this information, I employed a photog-\nrapher, giving him instructions to post himself opposite\nthe house and make a snap shot of the magician, should\nhe appear in the doorway. But I had counted without\nmy host. All morning the photographer lounged across\nthe street and all morning I stood bareheaded before\nthe door of Herr Frikell, pleading with his wife who leaned\nfrom the window overhead. With that peculiar fervency\nwhich comes only when the heart's desire is at stake, I\nbegged that the past master of magic would lend a help-\ning hand to one ready to sit at his feet and learn. I urged\n[27]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 38, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nAfter the performance I dropped into the K\u00f6nig Kaffe\nand was much annoyed by the staring and gesticulations\nof an elderly couple at a distant table. It was Frikell\nwith his wife, but I did not recognize them and, not being\ncertain on his side, he failed to make himself known.\nThat was mid-week, and for Saturday, which fell on\nOctober 8th, 1903, I had an engagement to call at the\nVilla Frikell. On Thursday, the Central Theatre being\nsold out to Cleo de Merode, who was playing special\nengagements in Germany with her own company, I\nmade a flying business trip to Berlin, and on my return I\npassed through K\u00f6tchenbroda. As the train pulled into\nthe station I hesitated. Should I drop off and see Herr\nFrikell, or wait for my appointment on the morrow?\nFate turned the wheel by a mere thread and I went on to\nDresden. So does she often dash our fondest hopes!\nMy appointment for Saturday was at 2 P.M., and as my\ntrain landed me in K\u00f6tchenbroda a trifle too early I\nwalked slowly from the depot to the Villa Frikell, not\nwishing to disturb my aged host by arriving ahead of time.\nI rang the bell. It echoed through the house with pe-\nculiar shrillness. The air seemed charged with a quality\nwhich I presumed was the intense pleasure of realizing\nmy long cherished hope of meeting the great magician.\nA lady opened the door and greeted me with the words:\n\"You are being waited for.\"\nI entered. He was waiting. for me indeed, this man\nwho had consented to meet me, after vowing that he would\nnever again look into the face of a stranger. And Fate\nhad forced him to keep that VOW. Wiljalba Frikell was\ndead. The body, clad in the best his wardrobe afforded,\n[ 3I ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 22, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nC\nJOHN WHITE, Autbor of\nART's Treafury, and Hocus\nPocus ; or a Rich Cabinet of\nLegerdemain Curiofities.\nJohn White, an English writer on magic and kindred arts in the early part\nof the eighteenth century. Only portrait in existence and published for the\nfirst time since his book was issued in 1715. From the Harry Houdini Col-\nlection.\n[\n15"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 33, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nCorn Exchange, Maidstone,\nlegacy, which is now the\ncentral jewel in my col-\nFOR TWO NIGHTS ONLY.\nlection. Evanion died\nUNDER DISTINGUASHED PATRONAGE.\nTHEBAND\nten days later, June 17th,\nand within a short time\nor THE vertzun LIGET INFANTSY\nMILITIA\nhis good wife followed\nwn attend on each Erening by the tund cerminsion of Col. Ser Thos. M. Wilson, Bart.\nhim into the Great Un-\nknown.\nEven more dramatic\nwas my meeting with the\nwidow of Frikell, the\ngreat German conjurer.\nI had heard that Frikell\nand not Robert-Houdin\nSOIREES MYSTERIEUSES 1!\nwas the first magician\nMR. J. SAVREN,\nto discard cumbersome,\ndraped stage apparatus,\nArtist in Experimental Philosophy, and\nNatural Magic,\nSege . inform the - of thet\nof\nand to don evening\n.\nNovel - The te\ndeme by - - of the The MISTICAL\nILLUSTRATION will\nMODERN\nclothes, and I was most\nanxious to verify this\nMAGIC\nrumor, as well as to in-\nterview him regarding\nequally important data\nThe Illusionary of Natural Science, Egyptian Mystery, the Manipulation of\nthe Chinese, the greatest Recamotes in the World.\nPROGBAMME EXTRAORDINAIRR\nbearing on the history of\nPARE L\nThe Obediees Carde and theie Eccestricities\nLe Mouchod- de confocum, \" What wit be\nThe Croutal Torala, its Divination, ne the Oracle\nHundred Yeare?\nmagic. Having heard\nof Fomale Destiny\nThe Grand Escomotago, the Mireculous Pre-\nThe VANGAL of VENUS is the Prisco of\nsectasion to the\nBacchue\nThe Bassers of - - Molti-\nThe Wateh Mascrovre, or the Wooders of Magical\nfarione Production in of the\nthat he lived in K\u00f6tchen-\nManipsiation\nALLIES\nPART IL\nA Night is the PALACE of NANKIN, or Novel\nThe Coffers of the Stores\nRepresvetation of the Wonder Working\nbroda, a suburb of Dres-\nand Spint like Tou de phymique\nMagie of the great Celestial Empire of\nThe Evenoncent Powers of Bodino\nCHINA\nFiora's Tree . Minatore and CONE\na Liquid Metamorphosi and reprodection of the\nLe Estraordisaire, les Bonlots des Allies\nColdee Circled in Peratorial\nThe CHINESE CREATION, the mout Brilliant\nden, I wrote to him from\nThe Mesallic Currency, ita Trassitory Motion and\nand Jorsplicable Toare over\nFinal imperceptible Joursey to the Crystal\nAscient or Modern Magle, parely\nCabset\nof Chinese Origle\nCologne, asking for an\nedome OPEN AT SEVES TO AT e'creca.\ninterview. I received\nPoster used by James Savren. From\nthe Harry Houdini Collection.\nin reply a curt note:\n[ 26  ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 24, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nFrontispiece from Richard Neve's work on magic, showing him performing\nthe egg and bag trick about 1715. Photographed from the original in the\nBritish Museum by the author.\n2\n[ (17 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 20, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nHet Natuurlijk\nTOVER-BOECK\nof\nSPEEL =TONEEL\nder\nKONSTEN\nFrontispiece from Simon Witgeest's \"Book of Natural Magic\" (1682),\nshowing the early Dutch conception of conjuring. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\n[*3]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 16, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nHoudin, over his own signature, claimed credit for the\ninvention of many tricks and automata which may be\nsaid to have marked the golden age in magic. My in-\nvestigations disproved each claim in order. He had\nannounced himself as the first magician to appear in\nregulation evening clothes, discarding flowing sleeves and\nheavily draped stage apparatus. The credit for this revo-\nlution in conjuring belonged to Wiljalba Frikell. Robert-\nHoudin's explanation of tricks performed by other\nmagicians and not included in his repertoire, proved so\nincorrect and inaccurate as to brand him an ignoramus\nin certain lines of conjuring. Yet to the great charm of\nhis diction and the romantic development of his personal\nreminiscences later writers have yielded unquestioningly\nand have built upon the historically weak foundations of\nhis statements all the later so-called histories of magic.\nFor a time the disappointment killed all. creative\npower. With no laurel wreath to carve, my tools lay idle.\nThe spirit of investigation languished. Then came the\nreaction. There was work to be done. Those who had\nwrought honestly deserved the credit that had been taken\nfrom them. In justice to the living as well as the dead\nthe history of the magic must be revised. The book,\naccepted for more than half a century as an authority\non our craft, must stand forth for what it is, a clever\nromance, a well-written volume of fiction.\nThat is why to-day I offer to the profession of magic,\nto the world of laymen readers to whom its history has\nalways appealed, and to the literary savants who dip into\nit as a recreation, the results of my investigations. These,\nI believe, will show Robert-Houdin's true place in the\n[9]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 25, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nHoudin. I have not borrowed from the books of other\nwriters on magic. I have gone to the very fountain head\nof information, records of contemporary literature, news-\npapers, programmes and advertisements of magicians who\nSignor Antonio Blitz, author of \"Fifty Years in the Magic Circle\" (1872).\nOriginal negative of this photograpli is in the Harry Houdini Collection.\npreceded Robert-Houdin, sometimes by a century. It\nwould cost fully a million dollars to forge the collection\nof evidence now in my hands. Men who lived a hundred\nyears before Robert-Houdin was born did not invent\n[ 18]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 27, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nOften when the bookshops and auction sales did not\nyield fruit worth plucking, I had the good fortune to\nmeet a private collector or a retired performer whose\nassistance proved invaluable, and the histories of\nCharles Bertram (James Bassett), the English author and conjurer, who\nwrote \"Isn't it Wonderful ?\" Born 1853, died Feb. 28th, 1907. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nthese meetings read almost like romances, so skilfully\ndid the Fates seem to juggle with my efforts to secure\ncredible proof.\nTo the late Henry Evans Evanion I am indebted for\n[20]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 14, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nT\nHIS book is the natural result of the moulding,\ndominating influence which the spirit and wri-\ntings of Robert-Houdin have exerted over my\nprofessional career. My interest in conjur-\ning and magic and my enthusiasm for Robert-Houdin\ncame into existence simultaneously. From the moment\nthat I began to study the art, he became my guide and hero.\nI accepted his writings as my text-book and my gospel.\nWhat Blackstone is to the struggling lawyer, Hardee's\n\"Tactics\" to the would-be officer, or Bismarck's life and\nwritings to the coming statesman, Robert-Houdin's books\nwere to me.\nTo my unsophisticated mind, his \"Memoirs\" gave to\nthe profession a dignity worth attaining at the cost of\nearnest, life-long effort. When it became necessary for\nme to take a stage-name, and a fellow-player, possessing\na veneer of culture, told me that if I would add the letter\n\"i\" to Houdin's name, it would mean, in the French\nlanguage, \"like Houdin,\" I adopted the suggestion with\nenthusiasm. I asked nothing more of life than to become\nin my profession \"like Robert-Houdin.\"\nBy this time I had re-read his works until I could re-\ncite passage after passage from memory. Then, when\nFate turned kind and the golden pathway of success\nled me into broader avenues of work, I determined that\nmy first tour abroad should be dedicated to adding new\n[7]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 31, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nVery rare and extraordinarily fine lithograph of Robert-Houdin, which he\ngave only to his friends. It depicts him among his so-called inventions. His\nson, Emile, doing second siglit, is behind him. The writing and drawing\nfigure is on his left. On his right under the clockwork is a drawing which,\non close examination of the original, shows the suspension trick. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\n[ 24]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 23, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nagain we have a purely local and personal history, without\ngeneral value.\nThomas Frost wrote three books relating to the history\nof magic, commencing about 1870. This list included\n'Circus Life and Circus Celebrities,' \"The Old Show-\nmen and the Old London Fairs,\" and \"Lives of the\nConjurers.\" These were the best books of their kind up\nto the time of their publication, but they are marked by\nglaring errors, showing that Frost compiled rather than\ninvestigated, or, more properly speaking, that his in-\nvestigations never went much further than Morley's\n\"Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair.\"\nCharles Bertram who wrote \"Isn't it Wonderful?\"\nclosed the nincteenth-century list of English writers on\nmagic, but his work is marred by mis-statements which\neven the humblest of magicians could refute, and, like\nFrost, he drew heavily on writers who preceded him.\nSo far, in the twentieth century, the most notable con-\ntribution to the literature of magic is Henry Ridgely\nEvans' \"The Old and the New Magic,\" but Mr. Evans\nfalls into the error of his predecessors in accepting as\nauthoritative the history of magic and magicians fur-\nnished by Robert-Houdin. He has made no effort\nwhatever to verify or refute the statements made by\nRobert-Houdin, but has merely compiled and re-written\nthem to suit his twentieth-century readers.\nThe true historian does not compile. He delves for\nfacts and proofs, and having found these he arrays his\nindisputable facts, his uncontrovertible proofs, to refute\nthe statements of those who have merely compiled. That\nis what I have done to prove my case against Robert-\n[r6 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 39, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nall of which had been donned in honor of his expected\nguest, was not yet cold. Heart failure had come suddenly\nand unannounced. The day before he had cleaned up his\nsouvenirs in readiness for my coming and arranged a quan-\ntity of data for me. On the wall above the silent form\nwere all of his gold medals, photographs taken at various\nstages of his life, orders presented to him by royalty-\nall the outward and visible signs of a vigorous, active,\nand successful life, the life of which he would have told\nme, had I arrived ahead of Death. And when all these\nwere arranged, he had forgotten his morbid dislike of\nstrangers. The old instincts of hospitality tugged at his\nheart strings, and his wife said he was almost young and\nhappy once more, when suddenly he grasped at his heart,\ncrying, \"My heart! What is the matter with my heart ?\n\"\nThat was all!\nThere we stood together, the woman who had loved\nthe dear old wizard for years and the young magician who\nwould have been SO willing to love him had he been allowed\nto know him. His face was still wet from the cologne she\nhad thrown over him in vain hope of reviving the fading\nsoul. On the floor lay the cloths, used SO ineffectually\nto bathe the pulseless face, and now laughing mockingly\nat one who saw himself defeated after weary months\nof writing and pleading for the much-desired meeting.\nI feel sure that the personal note struck in these remi-\nniscences will be forgiven. In no other way could I\nprove the authoritativeness of my collection, the thorough-\nness of my research, and the incontrovertibility of the facts\nwhich I desire to set forth in this volume.\n[ 32 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 30, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nclad in rusty raiment. When I approached the old man\nhe rose and informed me that he had brought some\nclippings, bills, etc., for me to see. I asked him to be\nas expeditious as possible, for I was too weak to stand\nlong and my head was a-whirl from the effects of\nla grippe.\nWith some hesitancy of speech but the loving touch of\na collector he opened his parcel.\n\"I have brought you, sir, only a few of my treasures,\nsir, but if you will call-\n\"\nI heard no more. I remember only raising my hands\nbefore my eyes, as if I had been dazzled by a sudden\nshower of diamonds. In his trembling hands lay price-\nless treasures for which I had sought in vain-original\nprogrammes and bills of Robert-Houdin, Phillippe, Ander-\nson, Breslaw, Pinetti, Katterfelto, Boaz, in fact all the\nconjuring celebrities of the eighteenth century, together\nwith lithographs long considered unobtainable, and news-\npapers to be found only in the files of national libraries.\nI felt as if the King of England stood before me and I\nmust do him homage.\nPhysician or no physician, I made an engagement\nwith him for the next morning, when I was bundled into\na cab and went as fast as the driver could urge his horse\nto Evanion's home, a musty room in the basement of\nNo. I2 Methley Street, Kennington Park Road, S.E.\nIn the presence of his collection I lost all track of\ntime. Occasionally we paused in our work to drink tea\nwhich he made for us on his pathetically small stove.\nThe drops of the first tea which we drank together can\nyet be found on certain papers in my collection. . His\n]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 21, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nfully as reliable a book as the earlier \"Hocus Pocus\"\nbooks, but it is not so generally known.\nRichard Neve, who was a popular English conjurer\njust before the time of Fawkes, published a book on\nsomewhat similar lines in I715.\nGermany contributed the next notable works on magic.\nFirst came Johann Samuel Halle's \"Magic or the Magical\nPower of Nature,\" printed in Berlin, in 1784. One of\nhis compatriots, Johann Christian Wiegleb, wrote eighteen\nbooks on \"The Natural Magic\" and while I shall\nalways contend that the German books are the most\ncomplete, yet they cannot be accepted as authorities save\nthat, in describing early tricks, they prove the existence\nof inventions and working methods claimed later as\noriginal by men like Robert-Houdin.\nEnglish books on magic were not accepted seriously\nuntil the early part of the ninetcenth century. In Vol.\nIII. of John Beckmann's \"History of Inventions and\nand Discoveries,\" published in 1797, will be found a\nchapter on \"Jugglers\" which presents interesting matter\nregarding magicians and mysterious entertainers.\nI\nquote from this book in disproving Robert-Houdin's\nclaims to the invention of automata and second-sight.\nAbout 1840, J. H. Anderson, a popular magician,\nbrought out a series of inexpensive, paper-bound vol-\numes, entitled \"A Shilling's Worth of Magic,\" \"Parlor\nMagic,\" etc., which are valuable only as giving a glimpse\nof the tricks contemporary with his personal successes.\nIn 1859 came Robert-Houdin's \"Memoirs,\" magic's\nclassic. Signor Blitz, in 1872, published his reminis-\ncences, \"Fifty Years in the Magic Circle,\" but here\n[14 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 17, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nhistory of magic and give to his predecessors, in a pro-\nfession which in each generation becomes more serious\nand more dignified, the credit they deserve.\nMy investigations cover nearly twenty years of a busy\na\nor\nfocus\nb2\nthe\nFrontispiece of \"Hocus Pocus,\" Second Edition, 1635, one of the earliest\nworks on magic. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\nprofessional career. Every hour which I could spare\nfrom my professional work was given over to study in\nlibraries, to interviews with retired magicians and col-\nlectors, and to browsing in old bookstores and antique\n[10]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 19, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\ning tales of travellers who witnessedmagical performances,\nbut they are not authentic records of performers and\ntheir work.\nOne of the oldest books in my collection is \"Natural\nand Unnatural Magic\" by Gantziony, dated 1489. It\nis the author's script, exquisite in its German chirography,\nartistic in its illuminated illustrations, but worthless as an\nhistorical record, though many of the writer's descriptions\nand explanations of old-time tricks are most interesting.\nEarly in the seventeenth century appeared \"Hocus\nPocus,\" the most widely copied book in the literature of\nmagic. The second edition, dated 1635, I have in my\nlibrary. I have never been able to find a copy of the\nfirst edition or to ascertain the date at which it was\npublished.\nA few years later, in 1658, came a very important con-\ntribution to the history of magic in \"Natural Magick in\nXX. Bookes,\" by John Baptist Porta, a Neapolitan.\nThis has been translated into nearly every language.\nIt was the first really important and exhaustive work on\nthe subject, but, unfortunately, it gives the explanation\nof tricks, rather than an authentic record of their in-\nvention.\nIn 1682, Simon Witgeest of Amsterdam, Holland,\nwrote an admirable work, whose title reads \"Book of\nNatural Magic.\" This work was translated into German,\nran through many an edition, and had an enormous sale\nin both Holland and Germany.\nIn 1715, John White, an Englishman, published a\nwork entitled \"Art's Treasury and Hocus Pocus; or a\nRich Cabinet of Legerdemain Curiosities.\" This is\n[iz]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 15, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nlaurels to the fame of Robert-Houdin. By research and\nstudy I would unearth history yet unwritten, and record\nunsung triumphs of this great inventor and artiste. The\npen of his most devoted student and follower would\nawaken new interest in his history.\nAlas for my golden dreams! My investigations brought\nforth only bitterest dis-\nappointment and sad-\ndest of disillusionment.\nStripped of his self-\nwoven veil of romance,\nRobert-Houdin stood\nforth, in the uncom-\npromising light of cold\nhistorical facts, a mere\npretender, a man who\nwaxed great on the\nbrainwork of others, a\nmechanician who had\nboldly filched the in-\nventions of the master\ncraftsmen among his\npredecessors.\n\"Memoirs of Robert-\nHoudin, Ambassador,\nRobert-Houdin in his prime, immedi-\nAuthor and Conjurer,\nately after his retirement. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nWritten by Himself,'\nproved to have been\nthe penwork of a brilliant Parisian journalist, em-\nployed by Robert-Houdin to write his so-called auto-\nbiography. In the course of his \"Memoirs,\" Robert-\n[8]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 28, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nmany of the most important additions to my collection\nof conjuring curios and my library of magic, recog-\nnized by fellow-artistes and litterateurs as the most\ncomplete in the world.\nEvanion was an Englishman, by profession a parlor\nmagician, by choice and habit a collector and savant.\nHe was an entertainer from 1849 to the year of his death.\nFor fifty years he spent every spare hour at the British\nMuseum collecting data bearing on his marvellous col-\nlection, and his interest in the history of magic was shared\nby his excellent wife who conducted a \"sweet shop\"\nnear one of London's public schools.\nWhile playing at the London Hippodrome in 1904 I\nwas confined to my room by orders of my physician.\nDuring this illness I was interviewed by a reporter who,\nnoticing the clippings and bills with which my room was\nstrewn, made some reference to my collection in the\ncourse of his article. The very day on which this inter-\nview appeared, I received from Henry Evanion a merc\nscrawl stating that he, too, collected programmes, bills,\netc., in which I might be interested.\nI wrote at once asking him to call at one o'clock the\nnext afternoon, but as the hour passed and he did not\nappear, I decided that, like many others who asked for\ninterviews, he had felt but a passing whim. That after-\nnoon about four o'clock my physician suggested that, as\nthe day was mild, I walk once around the block. As\nI\nstepped from the lift, the hotel porter informed me that\nsince one o'clock an old man had been waiting to see\nme, but so shabby was his appearance, they had not dared\nsend him up to my room. He pointed to a bent figure,\n[ 2I ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 26, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nposters or write advertisements in order to refute the\nclaims of those who were to follow in the profession of\nmagic. These programmes, advertisements, newspaper\nnotices, and crude cuts trace the true history of magic as\nPhilip Astley, Esq.\nRuc. by Alex. Bogg. & c. Aug 1.1806.\nPhilip Astley, Esq., an historical circus director, a famous character of\nBartholomew Fair days, and author of \"Natural Magic\" (1784). From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nno romancer, no historian of a single generation possibly\ncould. They are the ghosts of dead and gone magicians,\nrising in this century of research and progress to claim\nthe credit due them.\n[r9]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 18, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nshops where rare collections of programs, newspapers,\nand prints might be found.\nIn order to conduct my researches intelligently, I was\ncompelled to pick up a smattering of the language of\nJOH BAPT PORTA\nCa Philosoph, Madamatitor and Atrologic zus\ngovo. on\nJohn Baptist Porta, the Neapolitan writer on magic. From an old woodcut\nin the Harry Houdini Collection.\neach country in which I played. The average collector\nor proprietor of an old bookshop is a canny, suspicious\nindividual who must accept you as a friend before he\nwill uncover his choicest treasures.\nAs authorities, books on magic and kindred arts are\npractically worthless. The earliest books, like the magi-\ncian stories written by Sir John Mandeville in 1356, read\nlike prototypes of to-day's dime novels. They are thrill-\n[ II ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 36, "folder": "", "text": "INTRODUCTION\nthe debt which he owed to the literature of magic and\nwhich he could pay by giving me such direct information\nas I needed for my book.\nFrau Frikell heard my pleadings with tears running\ndown her cheeks, and later I learned that Herr Frikell\nalso listened- to them, lying grimly on the other side of\nthe shuttered window.\nAt length, yielding to physical exhaustion, I went away,\nbut I was still undaunted. I continued to bombard Herr\nFrikell with letters, press clippings regarding my work,\netc., and finally in Russia I received a letter from him.\nI might send him a package containing a certain brand\nof Russian tea of which he was particularly fond. You\nmay be sure I lost no time in shipping the little gift, and\nshortly I was rewarded by the letter for which I longed.\nHaving decided that I cared more for him than did some\nof his relatives, he would receive me when next I played\nnear K\u00f6tchenbroda.\nWith this interview in prospect, I made the earliest\nengagement obtainable in Dresden, intending to give\nevery possible moment to my hardly-won acquaintance.\nBut Fate interfered. One business problem after another\narose, concerning my forthcoming engagement in Eng-\nland, and I had to postpone my visit to Herr Frikell\nuntil the latter part of the week. In the mean time, he\nhad agreed to visit a Dresden photographer, as I wanted\nan up-to-date photograph of him and he had only pictures\ntaken in his more youthful days. On the day when he\ncame to Dresden for his sitting, he called at the theatre,\nbut the attach\u00e9s, without informing me, refused to give\nhim the name of the hotel where I was stopping.\n[29]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 87, "folder": "", "text": "MASQUERADE\nMasquerade and opera at Burlington Gate. Reproduction of Hogarth's engraving entitled \"Taste,\"\nbelittling the artistic taste of London. This caricature verifies the Fawkes advertisement, reproduced\non page 64, for here the conjurer is pictured leaning from the window of the 'long room\" and calling\nattention to his performances. From the Harry Houdini Collection."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 233, "folder": "", "text": "MELODEON\nFOR POBITIVELY\nTWO WEEKS ONLY.\nMONDAY, MAY 15TH,\nFIRST NIGHT or\nROBEAT\nTHE FAMOUS\nSOMATIC CONJURER,\nPIANO-SOLOIST AND CAUSEUR,\nwae MAS rest ass\n365TH PERFORMANCE IN NEW YORK,\nBelag . career \" success which . other Conjurer has, et asy time, accemplished le that eity,\nPART 1.-MAGIC.\nWONDER 1\nHELLER'S CABALISTIC CLOCK\nWONDER II.\nTHE ERIAL DELI.\nVONDER III\nINPORNAD celebrated Patent Medicin\u00e9 Ware-\nbouse in the Netherlund\nWONDER IV\nTHE_ WITCHES POLE, with singular developments in\nCartomancy\nWONDER V\nANIMATED DOLLARS, with Life and Intellegence Manifested\nWONDER VI.\nHELLER'S ARABESQUE RINGS\nWONDER VII\nTHE DEVIL'S PUNCHBOWL\nPART II-MUSIC.\nNo. &\nGRAND FANTASIA on Airs from the \"Sonnambula\" of Thalberg,\nperformed by ROBERT HELLER, on Steinway's Grand Pianoforte.\nNo. 3\nMa Laughable Description the Piano-practice of a Boarding\nSchool Young Lady.-Illustrated. The Young Lady by Robert Heller.\nPART II.--MBTE.\n200. 2.\nHELLER'S SECOND-SIGHT MYSTERY\nAnvented\nby Sim, by \u00e9le and which has made bie colebrity frota hio appresesee\nin public, being designated as\nNo. PLUMES OF VICTORY\n. wisse\nPART\nPARLOR KAOIC, or Tricks Made Ensy, every - person in the Audiends not\n,\nonly shown the Tricks, but taught publicly how to do them, do that they\nmay go and start out asconjurers for them esivesani achieve as great\na\nfortune as bas fallen to the lot of Rosear,\nPoster used by Robert Heller during his Boston engagement in 1853. From\nthe Harry Houdini Collection.\n[206]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 200, "folder": "", "text": "Mechanical and Mathematical\nFEATS OF\nAlhough - description ese property thefe Mechnaical Pieces of Art, yet to convey \" the\nPablic - ides of theis and of the incuitive Powers wich which they feem invelled, the\nis\nDexterity.\nTwo Elegant Automats,\n. dotail of these which evrite the\nthe liants\nOue of which a FEMALE FIGURE, as large as life, performs as a ROPE DANCER in\ninication of Le Belle fo jutly celebrated throaghos Earope -the other is an\narrsa rellowine es\nLITTLE PAILASSE, whofe apperent Naivesse and Powers of Action are equally aftomifhing.\nPinses , fee - Homee\nFOR THE FIRST TIME.\nThe Mechanical PEACOCK,\nTHE VIEW OF THE ciry OF\nA monk Pista of Anificial Animation which imitates, fo clofely. the Cries, Altions, and\nAtticades of - and besetifel Bird, thas it ie sot enfrequently fappoled to be an abfolute)\nlie\nling Animal, property \" ad as as amuling deception epon the Public.\nStockholm,\nThe Magnetic Clock,\nor\nle\n-\nViee\nell - of Sull - \" the be the Forte . Shore\narrsa waics will as PROSENTED vas SCENS os THE\nMonly is on two Chryfal Columma, and furmosnced by a chara\u00dferiftic Figus\nFALSTAFF, which will amafe and diven the Company. by difovering\nVoyage of Captain Parry to the\nchaie Thenghto, are. os an Alphobetical Dial Plase, fornified with a Geil- moving Index.\nThe Senfative WIND-MILL,\nNorth Pole:\nWhich segulases its motion by the appasent of a Word from any\nforme . obey the is the Company by a politive Gif of Inteition.\nHie passage threagh the Froses Straits, amonget the\nSELECT EXPERIMENTS IN\nFLOATING ICE.\nHYDRAULICS,\nOs the There eill De - Equimest, with their Sledges drawa by Degs.-Bears pursued and\n,\nhilled b Seilora. As eal be represcated Women in their native Bosts; also the\nLonding of the Sailore from the Discosery Ships. Fery and Hecle.\nA GRAND\nDISPLAY OF WATER-WORKS,\nTHIRD PART-THI CITY OF\nTh Waser rifas from the fromt of the Suge, and after forming into many delightful Fountains,\nde. & conjoined with\nAmsterdam,\nFIRE OF DIFFERENT KINDS,\nvas ou\nAst - Ziements farioully rell segether the Cieling of the Thestre, the Wases\nThe\nVise to - - the ou Remport The Viee of Bridge the Austel.\nTh.\nTowe\n.\n-\nques\n-\n-\nlete\nSe\nthie\n-\nbeserifal\nof\nthe\nMes\n.\nalfo elevates to the fame heighe . Leftre with Candies burning.\nFIRE-WORKS PLAYING,\nAn Aquatic Exhibition on the River.\nA - \" le - eith esveral Trephies of Vierery. the Asceat of the , tring - elloper,\nmay - Esperimess. without asy Offence even to the mok deliense\n- after - Perese is - gein de Top, asd bear ..., Piss.\nVOURTHI WOVOERFUL AND UNRIVALLED\nTo rich will be added feveral Original Experiments in the Science of\nOPTICS\nAUTOMATON,\nOn the Flying Rope;\nor WHICH HE IS THE SOLE INVENTOR.\nT\n.\n-\nves\n...\nforme\n.\nNoodity\n-\nbeing\n.\nthe\nRege\nby\nthe\nHead.\nthe\nothere\nbutherte\nThe\nRope\nse\nAccompanied by . Scorm of\nthe\nFigare\nwill\nDE\nperlectly\nessy.\nend\nine\neltitade,\nhile\n...\nperfora\nfrom\n.\nLIVING\nPERFORNEA,\nes\nis\nasses\nwith\nthe\n.\nThunder, Lightning, &c. &c.\nTO CONCLUDE WITH A\nn . - - a of and MECHANICAL and OPTICAL\nFIRE-WORKS,\nStorm at Sea!\nDifplayed in the Centre of & Tranfparent Arbour.\n-\nof\nthe\nThender, N\u00b0 struch b, ... the Dues-\n- the Reche, elteguther of\n6\n-\ndi\n-\nAquests\nA de Philipsthal programme of 1806 on which both the automatic tight-rope per-\nformor and the magnetic clock were featured. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\nbe\nA Thiodon bill of 1825, in which he claims the invention of a figure that could\nlifted on or off the stage or pole. This was twenty-five years before Robert-\nHoudin claimed the same invention. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n173"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 334, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nEugene was said to be the superior of his famous father\nin sleight-of-hand, but he was wild and given to excesses.\nWomen and wine checked what might have been a brill-\niant professional career. Disabled, poverty-stricken, and\nOnly photograph of Madame Bosco, given to the author by Mrs. Mueller,\nMadame Bosco's niece, at the funeral of Wiljalba Frikell.\nrespected by none, he soon disappeared from the con-\njuring world, and according to Carl Willman in the\n\"Zauberwelt\" he died miserably in Hungary in 1891.\nIn the mean time, Bosco and his wife lived in poverty\nin Dresden, where the once brilliant conjurer died March\n20\n[305]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 342, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nSTRAND THEATRE\nFestively the Last wight of\nPEOFESSOR\nNND ERSON'S\nASTONISHING SOIRKES MYSTEBLEUSES,\nTO sa THE\nLegitimate Wonders of the Nineteenth Century!\nNEW WONDERS OF WITCACHAFT, An NAGIC!\nThis Evening, THURSDMY, Jau.\n-\nthe - APPEGRANCE AND\n1848\nROVAL ENTERTAINMENT,\nMistrative of the Fallecy of Magle,\n-\nTHE\nGREATEST WONDER OF\nTHE\nAGE\nSON\nWILLE\nCONDENSEL CHLOROFORM\n68\nMUST SEC\nSUAPRISING\nSGAIN\nMAZING\nBEATS\nNOYAL PROGRAMNE of SCIENTIZIC WONDERS\nPAST\nPART n.\nThe RECHANTED\n- CMANGEABLE some -\nSIGET; its Fallacy illustrated.\nCANDLE with - ANIMATED MOUCHOS\nThe EFSTIC VOLUNS\nGrand EYDRAULIO\n- NON.EFTUCT on\nThe BANE, 2 Fishing\nGRAND\nSCRAP 8008\nELECTRIS\nSCAAPS\nThes of aux WATCHES -\nThe EYSTIO\nGrand POTROUREI of\nThe Learned Deves, the Broken\nThe - - - LAST woudsa,\nANDER-INS\nOrange, and Exchanted\nSUSPENSION CILOROFOREENE\ncma of the Am; Jack in the\n(8, your NENUT\n\"Jack sa de MASTER ANDERSOS\nS. - - bie . - purcles of\nered - - Me - - - - Elhet of\nDrag. - 2 ** -\nCEAPEAU DU BIASLE\n=\n-\nANDURMON\n-\n-\nTHS will IN THE AIR, \"\n^ - - . n -\nONLT SUPPOS? A VALKING STICS.\nPoster used by Anderson during his closing week at the Strand Theatre,\nLondon, January 11th, 1848. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[ 313 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 330, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nby Torrini, as is set forth on page IO4. He pictures\nTorrini as dogging the footsteps of Pinetti through all\nItaly and finally driving him in a state of abject misery\nto Russia, where he died in the home of a nobleman, who\nsheltered him through sheer compassion. Robert-Houdin\nBartolomeo Bosco in his prime. From an engraving in the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\nmust have known this was absolutely untrue, for he\nquotes Robertson, who published Pinetti's true experi-\nences in Russia. Pinetti took a fortune with him to\nRussia, acquired more wealth there, and then lost his\n[301]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 346, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\ncertainly he was not justified in picturing his rival as\none who had passed his prime, whose popularity had\nwaned, whose r\u00e9pertoire no longer attracted the public.\nJohn Henry Anderson as he appeared in his later years. From a cut\nin the Harry Houdini Collection.\nFor, in addition to duplicating Robert-Houdin's entire r\u00e9-\npertoire, Anderson offered tricks of which Robert-Houdin\nknew nothing, and for years to come he constantly recon-\n[317]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 326, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nchapter III. of this book will show. Frikell was the pioneer\nin dispensing with cumbersome stage draperies. Robert-\nHoudin claimed this innovation as the product of his own\ningenuity. Compars Herrmann was playing in London\nwhen Robert-Houdin made his English d\u00e9but under\nMinnel\nWiljalba Frikell in his youth, showing the peculiar costume worn by con-\njurers at that time. The author secured this portrait a few weeks before\nFrikell's death and sent it to the veteran conjurer, who was amazed to learn\nthat this print was in existence. Now in the Harry Houdini Collection.\nMitchell's direction, and was presenting, trick for trick,\nthe r\u00e9pertoire claimed by Robert-Houdin as original with\nhim. Henri Robin disputed Robert-Houdin's claim to\nhaving invented the inexhaustible bottle, and proved his\ncase, as will be seen by reference to chapter VIII. Jacobs\n[ 297 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 344, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\ncomic. Besides, it had the double result of making the\nLondon public laugh and bringing a great number of\nshillings into the skilful puffer's pockets.\"\nReference to my collection of Anderson programmes\nEugene Bosco, son of the original Bosco. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\nand press clippings proves that while on the Continent\nhis performances had created such a sensation that,\naccording to the ethics and etiquette of his profession,\nAnderson was quite justified in assuming the title of \"The\nNapoleon of Necromancy \" and in depicting even kings\n[315]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 336, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\ngraveyard devoted to the poor and unclaimed dead. To\nprevent this, I purchased the lot and tombstone, and\npresented the same to the Society of American Magicians, of\nwhich organization, at the present writing, I am a member.\nA man of noble birth and brilliant attainments was the\noriginal Bosco, and his name became a by-word all over\nthe Continent as the synonym, not of cruelty, but of clever\ndeception, yet never has posterity put the name of a great\nperformer to such ignoble uses. For who has not heard\nthe cry of the modern Bosco, \"Eat-'em-alive\"?\nTo-day I can close my eyes and summon two visions.\nFirst I see myself standing bareheaded before a neglected\ngrave in the quiet cemetery on Friedrichstrasse, Dresden,\nthe sunlight pouring down upon the tombstone which bears\nnot only the cup-and-balls and wand, insignia of Bosco's\nmost famous trick, but this inscription: \"Ici repose le\nc\u00e9l\u00e8bre Bartolomeo Bosco.-N\u00e9 a Turin le II Janvier,\n1793; d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 \u00e0 Dresden le 2 Mars, 1863.\" The history\nof this clever conjurer, with all its lights and shadows,\nsweeps before me like a mental panorama.\nThe second vision carries me into the country, to the\nfairs of England and the side-shows of America:\n\"Bosco! Bosco! Eat-'em-alive Bosco. You can't af-\nford to miss this marvel. Bosco! Bosco!\"\nFollow me into the enclosure and gaze down into a\nden. There lies a half-naked human being. His hair\nis long and matted, a loin cloth does wretched duty as\nclothing. Torn sandals are on his feet. The eulogistic\nlecturer dilates upon the powers of this twentieth-century\nBosco, but you do not listen. Your fascinated gaze is\nfixed on various hideous, wriggling, writhing forms on\n[307]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 328, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nnach Cagliostro, shows Robin offering this figure in March,\n1846, or a year and seven months before it was presented\nby Robert-Houdin. Yet the only reference made by\nRobert-Houdin to this popular and gifted contemporary\nis in \"The Secrets of Stage Conjuring\" where he remarks\nslightingly that Robin spoiled Mr. Pepper's business by\ngiving a poor imitation of the latter's ghost show.\nAgain, in ignoring Herrmann, he proves his narrowness\nof mind, his utter unwillingness to admit any ability in his\nrivals. Compars Herrmann was no ordinary trickster or\nmountebank, but a conjurer who remained in London\nalmost a year, playing the very best houses, and later\nscoring equal popularity in the provinces. He was deco-\nrated by various monarchs and was famous for his large\ngifts to charities. Even the present generation, including\ntheatre-goers and students of magic, remembers the name\nof Herrmann, when Robert-Houdin is forgotten or would\nbe but for his cleverly written autobiography.\nWiljalba Frikell, to whom should go the credit of\ncutting out heavy stage draperies, never claimed the\ninnovation as a carefully planned conceit, but as an acci-\ndent. His paraphernalia were destroyed in a fire, but he\ndesired to live up to his contract and give a performance\nas announced. He therefore offered sleight-of-hand, pure\nand simple, with the aid of a few tables, chairs, and other\ncommion properties which were absolutely undraped. He\nwas also compelled to don regulation, severely plain,\nevening clothes. The absence of draperies, which natu-\nrally aid a conjurer in attaining results, created so pleasing\na sensation that Frikell never again draped his stage\nnor wore fancy raiment. Had Robert-Houdin told the\n[ 299 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 348, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\nthe hand of another man, who at his instigation belittled\nhis contemporaries, and juggled facts and truth to further\nhis egotistical, jealous ambitions.\nBut the day of reckoning is come. Upon the history\nof magic as promulgated by Robert-Houdin the search-\nlight of modern investigation has been turned. Credit\nhas been given where it belongs, to those magicians who\npreceded Robert-Houdin and upon whose abilities and\nachievements Robert-Houdin built his unearned, un-\nmerited fame. The dust of years has been swept from\nnames long forgotten, which should forever shine in the\nannals of magic.\nThus end, also, my researches, covering almost two\ndecades of time, researches in which my veneration for\nold-time magicians grew with each newly discovered bit\nof history; researches during which my respect for the\nprofession of magic has grown by leaps and bounds. And\nthe fruits of these researches I now lay before the only\ntrue jury, the great reading public. My task is finished.\n[319 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 332, "folder": "", "text": "NARROWNESS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN'S \"MEMOIRS\"\ntime the bird trick was not in his r\u00e9pertoire exclusively.\nAll English magicians employed it. Apparently the head\nof the fowl was amputated, but often in reality it was\ntucked under the wing, and the head and neck of another\nfowl was shown by sleight-of-hand. Quite probably the\nParisian public did not consider Bosco cruel. Robert-\nHoudin and his friend Antonio, being versed in sleight-\nof-hand and conjuring methods, read cruelty between the\ndeft movements. Certain it is that the name of Bosco\nhas not been handed down to posterity by other writers\nas a synonym of cruelty.\nThe animus of Robert-Houdin's attack on Bosco is\nevident at every point of the narrative. Now he accuses\nhim of bad taste in appearing in the box-office. Again he\nsuggests that the somewhat impressive opening of Bosco's\nact savors of both charlatanism and burlesque, when in\nreality the secret of showmanship consists not of what\nyou really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks\nyou do. Bosco undoubtedly secured precisely the effect\nhe desired, because Robert-Houdin devotes more than a\npage to a most unnecessary attempt to explain away what\nhe considered Bosco's undeserved popularity.\nBosco was not only a clever magician, but a man of\nmany adventures, so that his life reads like a romance.\nThis soldier of fortune, Bartolomeo Bosco, was born of\na noble Piedmont family, on January IIth, 1793, in Turin,\nItaly. From boyhood he showed great ability as a nec-\nromancer, but at the age of nineteen he was forced to\nserve under Napoleon I. in the Russian campaign. He\nwas a fusilier in the Eleventh Infantry, and at the battle\nof Borodino was injured in an engagement with Cossacks.\n[303]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 231, "folder": "", "text": "NEW STRAND\nTHEATRE.\nC\nSOIREZE\nMYST\u00c9RIEUSES\nDE\nROBERT HELLER.\nThese elegant and original Performances will be\ngiven at the above Theatre\nC\nCommencing at 8\nA MORNING PERFORMANCE\nEVERY MONDAT TEUREDAY,\nAT HALF-PAST 2 O'CLOCK.\nOn each occasion will be presented the following\ninexplicable experiments, invented and performed\nby Ecbert Heller.\nPART I.\nThe Cabaliatic Clock\nLe pendule Cabalistique\nThe Obedient Dove\nLa colombe Ob\u00e9imente\nThe Fans and Balle\nLes eventails et les boulets de\nCanons\nThe Plumes of Feathers\nLes plumes\nThe Basket of Flowers\nLa corbeille de Flueis\n000\nThe Marvelious Orange Tree.\nL'Oranger\nPART II.\nThe Mysterious Port-folio\nPort-feuille mysterieus\nThe Mystic Boquet\nLe bouquet mystique\nThe Wonderful Balance\nL'equilibre\nThe Automaton Cook\nLe cuisnier automate\nThe Safety Casket\nL'\u00e9crin de Suret\u00e9\nThe Magio filtration\nLe filtration magique\nPART III.\nTHE SECOND SIGHT I LA SECONDE VUE\nor ERNEST HELLER.\nESCAMOTAGE or ERNEST HELLER WHO WILL VANISH FROM\nTHS ETES or THE AUDIENCE\nThe Bottle\nLA bouteille\nThe cornucopies\nLe corne d'abondance\nFrom which Fana, Toys, Bonbons, Journals, &c. will be shovered\nupon the audience in the greatest profusion.\nDears de epm at 7, and at sfer the Morning\n-\nPRIVATE moxes\n1s. a \u00a31 11s 6d.\nStalls 3a.;\nBoxes\nPit\nGellery 6d.\nThe Bes Cillee epea from \" to & dally: where Tickets and Finses\nmay be secured.\na -\nProgramme used by Robert Heller in 1851-52, when he was about e\nyears of age. Probably the only programme of this date in existence.\nin the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[2041"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 119, "folder": "", "text": "Performances. The utmoft Efforts of Imitators have not begn able to produce the Effect intended; and he is too\ngrateful for the liberal Encouragement he has received in the Metropolis, not to, caution the Public againit thofe\npurious Copies, which, failing of the Perfection they iffume, can only difguft and difappoint the Spectators.\nM. D.E PHILIPSTHAL\nWill have the Honour to EXHIBIT (as ufual) his\nOptical Illufions and Mechanical Pieces of Art.\nAt the LYCEUM, and at no other Place of Exhibition in London.\nSELECT PARTIES may be accommodated with a MORNING REPRESENTATION at any appointed Hour, on Sending timely Notice.\nTo prevent Miftakes, the Public are requited to Notice, that the PHANTASMAGORIA is on the Left-hand, on the Ground Floor, and\nthe\nen the Right-hand, up Staise,"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 60, "folder": "", "text": "Pinchestic\nstopher Pinchbeck, Sr. This is the oldest and rarest authentic mezzotint in the\norld pertaining to the history of magic. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[ 53 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 322, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\nshe will be unable to slip her wrists. I do not mean by\nthis any hand-cuff that will not come to any size, or the\ncommon cuffs which when locked will lock only to a\ncertain size, but I mean a cuff that can be locked and\nadjusted to any size of wrist.\nIn rope-tying, the principal trick is to allow yourself to\nbe tied according to certain methods of crossing your\nhands or wrists, so that by eventually straightening your\nhands you have made enough room to allow them to slip\nout very easily. It is not always the size of the wrist that\ncounts. It is the manner of holding your hands when the\nknots are being tied.\nThe gift of seeing in the dark, with which Robert-\nHoudin endowed the Davenports, is equally preposterous.\nProfessor Hoffmann defends Robert-Houdin by citing in-\nstances of prisoners who had been confined in cells for an\nindefinite period and who had learned to see in the dark.\nThis is quite true, but they did not alternate daylight\nand darkness. Eminent opticians and oculists inform me\nthat the faculty of seeing in the dark cannot be acquired\nby parties like the Davenports, who spent most of their\ntime in the light.\nWhile the Davenports were pioneers in rope-tying and\ncabinet s\u00e9ances, had Robert-Houdin been the clever\nsleight-of-hand performer and inventor he claims to have\nbeen, these tricks would have been clear and solvable to\nhim. But as he obviously joined the ranks of the amazed\nand bewildered masses, making only a futile attempt to\nexplain the performances, he convicts himself of igno-\nrance regarding his own art.\nA man who has made a fortune in the world of magic\n[ 293 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 311, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\n\"We will not venture to question the fact vouched for by\nSO high an authority as Robert-Houdin, that the Indian\nBasket Trick may sometimes be performed after the\nTHEJUSTLY CELEBRATED\nRAMO SAMEE,\nCHIEF OF\nThe Indian Jugglers,\nNeving Saushed Are Proviscal Eagagements, will,\nO. MONDAY. JULY 16.\nAad. for a short persod so through the ahole of\nEstraordinary Fente of Strength and Agility,\n222, PICCADILLY,\nConsusting of e Reviso of with\nFOUR BRASS BALLS\nTHE SIZE OF ORANGES.\npossi\nover these le almost miraculous, he casses them to describe every\nDRICIONTALLY, PERPENDICULANLY, OBLIQUELY, TRANSTERSELY ROUND -\n- UNDER in and ABOUT ius MEAD, is large and -\nthe whole is at the - timin. This being the gread - of\n- activity, of the \" and appidity of actica. These who Dave set * -\n- - of ite escellence.\nSEVERAL FEATS OF BALLANCING\nis which la will estroduce the\nBuilding a Canopy with his Tongue\nON THE TOP OF HIS NOSE\n.\nAND RENOVING THE SAME WITE SURPRIZING INGENUITY\nyas\nSpinning of a Tepion a Point as fiue as a Needle,\nave\nBALANCING THE SAME ON IIIS CHIN,\n- * now to the Audiesce while revolving es the\nand by the word of command, restores it to the - Equilibries and\nwhee Grot Spea.\nTRS.\nWONDERFUL FEAT WITH LARGE KNIVES\nase\nSW.ALLOWING A STONE THE arze OF AN EGC.\nAloo. bie maniy Activity is\nThrowing a Large Ballthe size of an\n18-pound Shot\nTo parts of bie Body, with the greated - be places * botwodh N and by -\nthance to averal other parts of Frame: bot finally, with manterly jerti, throws the wand\nspring, throws It over bis Shoulder, from whence it alights os the bond of Nio Ara, asd\nwithout the am\u00e9stance of bie after several other achievements, be will concludo -\nSEVERAL NOVEL FEATS.\nylenical\nPerformances to commence every Day at One o Clock, and every Evening\na Sight Sa ech.Childres Half-prics;\nCA whe\nA Ramo Samee handbill, featuring his stone-swallowing act.\nFrom the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nmanner above described, but we doubt very much whether\nsuch is the usual or customary method.\"\nRobert-Houdin states that the child is placed in the\nbasket, and the Indian fastens down the lid with leather\nstraps. To facilitate this operation, he rests his knees\n[282]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 318, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\nBoth were below medium height, rather handsome\nmen, and, as will be seen from the accompanying engrav-\ning, looked much alike. Their career, which started in\nAmerica, ran from about 1853 to the early 70's. They\nmade a trip to Europe in 1864, remaining until August,\n1869. Both married abroad; Ira a daughter of France,\nMlle. Louise Toulet, and William Henry a Polish girl,\nMiss Matilda Mag. On the whole, their foreign tour was\nmost profitable, though in some cities they paid a high\nprice for their notoriety. In England they waged bitter\nwarfare with John Henry Anderson, Tolmaque, and Pro-\nfessor Redmond.\nOn the occasion of their Paris opening at the Salle\nHerz they claimed that the hoodlum element mobbed\nthe theatre and broke up their performance at the instiga-\ntion of Henri Robin, who was playing in opposition.\nHamilton, who had succeeded to the management of\nRobert-Houdin's theatre, in a letter published after wit-\nnessing their initial performance announced that he shared\nthis belief; but as Robert-Houdin and Henri Robin were\nbitter rivals, I believe Hamilton's letter was the result of\ntwo things: first the intense ill-will he harbored against\nRobin, and second, as he had Robert-Houdin as his\nmentor, he was really ignorant of the Davenport methods\nand therefore not in a position to defend them. The\nletter, which is given in full, appeared in Gazette des\n\u00c9trangers, Paris, September 27th, 1865:\n\"Messrs. Davenport: Yesterday I had the pleasure of\nbeing present at the s\u00e9ance you gave, and I came away\nfrom it convinced that jealousy alone was the cause of\nthe outcry raised against you. The phenomena pro-\n19\n[289]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 306, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\nIn my collection is the handbill of a stonc-swallower\nwho exhibited at No. IO Cockspur Street, London, charg-\ning an admission fee of half-a-crown.\nThese performers actually swallowed the water, stones,\nIndian fakir seated in the basket after the subject has been \"vanished.\"\npebbles, etc., and retched them up again so cleverly and\nat such carefully selected instants that the audience did\nnot know that the disgorging had been accomplished.\nSwallowing glass was a different matter, and the mod-\n[ 277 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 304, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\nJames de Falaise, a Norman, about fifty years of age, living\nin the Rue St. Honor\u00e9. It is said that this extraordinary\nman will swallow whole walnuts, shell and all, a tobacco\nFLORAM MARCHAND.\nWater spouter & Juggler.\nFloram Marchand. From an old, undated English publication in the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\npipe, three cards rolled together, a rose with all its leaves,\nlong stalk, and thorns, a living bird, and a living mouse,\nand, lastly, a live eel. Like to the Indian jugglers, he\n[ 275 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 296, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\nand, extending to the Chinese Museum, burnt it down on\nJuly 5th, 1854. An interesting account of the Automaton\nChess-Player, written by Prof. George Allen, of this\ncity, will be found in \"The Book of the First American\nChess Congress,' recently published in New York.\"\nSignor Blitz, in his book \"Fifty Years in the Magic\nCircle,\" corroborates the Mackenzie correction, by telling\nhow he saw Ma\u00eblzel in Havana, Cuba, where the famous\nGerman met his professional Waterloo, first in small\naudiences, then in the death of his faithful confederate,\nSchlomberg. Finally, broken in health and spirit, Ma\u00eblzel\nsailed from Havana for Philadelphia, but death overtook\nhim at sea. His body was consigned to the ocean's depths,\nand his few effects were sold to liquidate the cost of\npassage and other debts.\nThat Robert-Houdin should make an error concerning\na world-famous automaton the history of which could be\ntraced through contemporary periodicals and libraries, is\nalmost inconceivable and proves the carelessness with\nwhich he gathered and presented facts.\nHis inability to grasp the principles on which other\nperformers built their tricks is shown most clearly when\nhe attempts to describe and explain the performances of\nthe Arabian mountebanks whom he saw during his stay\nin Algiers. These tricks have been handed down from\none generation to another, and now that Arabian con-\njurers and acrobats are imported for hippodrome and\nvaudeville performances in all civilized countries, the\ntricks described by Robert-Houdin are familiar to the\ngeneral public. They are also copied by performers of\nother nationalities, and can be seen in circus side-shows\n[ 267 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 314, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\ncover of the basket sinks until the basket seems empty, to\nthe spectators at least. The fakir now takes off the cover\nof the basket, leaving the sheet over it, however. Then he\njumps into the presumably empty basket, stamps all\naround, and takes out the net in which are found the tur-\n:\nban worn by the subject and the thumb tie. To prove\nfurther that the basket is still empty, the fakir seats him-\nil\nself in the basket, as shown in the illustration. The lid\nof the basket is now replaced, and under this friendly\ncover the sheet is taken off and the basket tied up.\nNow commences the true Hindoo magic. The magi-\ncian is a real actor. He apparently adjures Mahomet.\nHe gets very angry and with fierce looks, ejaculations,\nand muttered curses he grabs up a sword or cane and\njabs it through different parts of the basket. During all\nthis time the subject, who is something of a contortion-\nist, is wriggling about on the bottom of the basket, keep-\ning out of reach of the sword, and in fact often guiding\nits thrusts between his legs, as every movement on the\npart of the fakir has been carefully thought out and\nrehearsed in advance.\nBy this time the fakir has convinced his audience that\nthe basket is empty. To be sure he has not allowed any\nspectators to come too near him or the basket, nor has\nany hand save his touched it, but his clever acting almost\npersuades even an intelligent or sceptical onlooker that\nthe basket is empty.\nWith the lid of the basket replaced, this time above\nthe friendly sheet, and the basket tied, he resumes his\nweird incantations. He screams and runs back and\nforth, playing on a small instrument with a hideous tone"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 298, "folder": "", "text": "ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC\nmaintained his balance, but, in reality, they supported\nthe whole weight of his body. Hence, the only require-\nment for this trick is to have the stomach more or less\nPressed in, and I will explain presently that this can be\neffected without any danger or injury.\"\nIn this explanation Robert-Houdin is entirely wrong.\nSinghalese\nTHE\nKANDIN\nfrom the\nIsleorCeylon\nA\nWITH THE IRON SHIN\nA Rannin lithograph, showing him doing the sword-walking act which\nRobert-Houdin claimed to have been a fraud. Rannin is still working in Ger-\nmany, imitated by many, equalled by none. From a photograph in the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nThe real secret of lying on top of a sharp-edged razor,\nsword, or sabre rests on the fact that the performer does\nactually lie upon it in a perfectly motionless position.\nWere he to move but the width of a hair, backward or\n[ 269]"}