{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 1, "folder": "", "text": "GV 1547\nP88\nCopy 1"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 1, "folder": "", "text": "111\n.\n116"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 2, "folder": "", "text": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.\nGV1547\nCumprinty\nShel P.88\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 3, "folder": "", "text": "UNITED\nSTERARIES"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 3, "folder": "", "text": "A\nA\n.\nCOCASA'"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 6, "folder": "", "text": "THF UNMANKING\nROBER"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 8, "folder": "", "text": "8061\n'00 3H.L\nMEN\nINICHOH\n18\nNIGNOH -\nJO\nDNINSVINNO TH.L"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 9, "folder": "", "text": "-\n:\nNo.8. THE MAGNET NAND\nPrice Twenty-five Cents.\nSUTD\nNEW-YORK:\nHURST & CO., PUBLISHERS."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 9, "folder": "", "text": "LATEST MAGIC\nBEING\nORIGINAL CONJURING TRICKS\nINVENTED AND ARRANGED\nBY\nPROFESSOR HOFFMANN\n(ANGELO LEWIS, M.A.)\nAuthor of \"Modern Magic,\" etc.\nWITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS\nFIRST EDITION\nNEW YORK\nSPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 120 LIBERTY ST.\n1918"}
{"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": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 10, "folder": "", "text": "1.665\nCopyright, 1918\nBx SPON & CHAMBERLAIN\n$ 180\nCAMELOT PRESS, 226-228 WILLIAM ST., NEW YORK, U. S. A.\nCIA506691"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 11, "folder": "", "text": "THE\nPractical Magician\nAND\nVENTRILOQUIST'S GUIDE.\nA PRACTICAL MANUAL OF\nFIRESIDE MAGIC AND CONJURING ILLUSIONS.\nCONTAINING ALSO\nCOMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACQUIRING & PRACTISING\nThe Art of\nthe\nthe\nNEW YORK\nHURST & CO., Publishers,\n75 NASSAU STREET.\n(Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by THOMAS D. HURST, in\nthe office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.)"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 11, "folder": "", "text": "TO\nJ. N. MASKELYNE, ESQ.\nFOREMOST OF ENGLISH MAGICIANS,\nAND\nFEARLESS EXPOSER OF FALSEHOOD AND FRAUD\nTHIS Book IS DEDICATED\nBY\nHis FRIEND AND ADMIRER,\nTHE AUTHOR"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 12, "folder": "", "text": "7 V / = ,\nP88\nBEST BOOK ON THE \"BLACK ART.\"\nPARLOR PASTIMES.\nA NEW BOOK ON\nMAGIC, CONJURING, LEGERDEMAIN,\nAND PRESTIDIGITATION.\nBY THE CELEBRATED\nPROFESSOR RAYMOND\nThis work is certainly the most exhaustive one on Magic that has ever\nbeen issued. It exposes all the secrets of tho Wizard's Art. No trick or\nillusion of importance is left unnoticed, and tho explanations are made in\nso simplo a manner that any one of ordinary comprehension can readily\nunderstand and perform them. The book thoroughly elucidates all tho\nmysteries connected with\nWhite Magic,\nGalvanism,\nNatural Magic,\nMagnetism,\nJugglery,\nLegerdemain,\nSleight-of-Hand,\nNecromancy,\nElectricity,\nFireworks,\nChemistry,\nMechanics,\nCards,\nThe Black Art,\n1\nCoins,\nPrestidigitation.\nIt also contains a grand assortment of\nRIDDLES, CONUNDRUMS, CHARADES, ENIGMAS, RE-\nBUSES, TRANSPOSITIONS, ANAGRAMS, PUZZLES,\nPARADOXES, ACROSTICS, AND PROBLEMS.\nA stndy of this extremely interesting work would make any one thor-\noughly expert in the art of Amusing, whether in private or public. Tho\nwork may be consulted with profit either by the Amateur or Professional\nMagician.\nPrice Twenty-Five Cents.\nSent to any address on receipt of price. Address\nHURST & CO., 75 NASSAU STREET, New YORK."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 13, "folder": "", "text": "PAGE\nIntroduction\n8\nOf palmistry and the passes\n9\nTo command a dime to pass into the centre of a ball of wool,\nso that it will not be discovered till the ball is unwound\nto the very last of its threads\n13\nTo change a bowl of ink into clear water with gold fish in it.\n14\nThe dancing egg\n15\nThe walking cent\n16\nTricks with and without collusion\n19\nTo make a quarter and a penny change places while held in\nthe hands of two spectators\n23\nTrick with the dime, handkerchief, and an orange or lemon\n23\nHow to double your pocket money.\n24\nThe injured handkerchief restored.\n25\nTo make a large die pass through the crown of a hat with-\nout injuring it.\n26\nTo produce from a silk handkerchief bonbons, candies,\nnuts, etc.\n27\nPractice\n29\nA sudden and unexpected supply of feathers from under a\nsilk handkerchief or cloth.\n31\nHeads or Tails ?\n33\nTo cook pancakes or plumcakes in a hat over some candles.\n34\nTo eat a dish of paper shavings and afterwards draw them\nfrom your mouth like an Atlantic cable.\n36\nHow to cut off a person's nose without injuring him\n37\nTricks by magnetism, chemistry, galvanism and electricity.\n39\nThe watch obedient to the word of command\n41"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 13, "folder": "", "text": "PREFACE\nThe tricks described in the following pages are\nof my own invention, and for the most part are en-\ntirely new departures: not only the effects pro-\nduced, but the appliances by means of which they\nare produced, being original.\nFrom the nature of the case, it follows that few\nof the items described have been submitted to the\nsupreme test of performance in public, but all have\nbeen thoroughly thought out; most of the root-\nideas having in fact been simmering in my mind\nfor more than two years past. One or two of them\nmay demand a more than average amount of ad-\ndress on the part of the performer; but the ma-\njority are comparatively easy, and I believe I may\nassert with confidence that all will be found both\npracticable and effective. Should any of my mod-\nest inventions be found, as is not improbable, sus-\nceptible of further polish, the keen wits and ready\nfingers of my brother wizards may safely be\ntrusted to supply it.\nThe items entitled The Mystery of Mahomet,\nThe Bewildering Blocks, and The Wizard's\nvii"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 14, "folder": "", "text": "CONTENTS.\niii\nPAGE\nA chemical trick, to follow one where a young friend has as-\nsisted\n43\nTo draw three spools off two tapes without those spools\nhaving to come off the ends of those tapes, and while\nthe four ends of the tapes are held by four persons...\n44\nTo restore a tape whole after it has been cut in the middle\n46\nOn the continuity of tricks\n49\nThe invisible hen, a very useful trick for supplying eggs for\nbreakfast or dinner\n53\nTricks with a plain gold ring\n56\nFriendly suggestions.\n59\nThe conjuror's \"bonus genius\" or familiar messenger.\n61\nThe shower of money.\n63\nTo furnish the ladies with a magic supply of tea or coffee,\nat their selection, from one and the same jug\n64\nTo furnish a treat to the gentlemen\n66\nVentriloquism\n67\nVentriloquism among the ancients\n70\nModern professors of the art.\n71\nThe theory of ventriloquism\n76\nThe means by which it is effected\n79\nPractical illustrations.\n81\nPolyphonic imitations\n87\nA mountain echo\n88\nPoints to be remembered.\n88\nConcluding remarks\n90\nTo make the magic whistle\n91"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 14, "folder": "", "text": "viii\nPREFACE\nPocket-book, have been described in the columns of\nan English magical serial, but have never appeared\nin book shape, and are by special desire, included\nin the present volume.\nA final word on a personal matter. Had I been\nprophet, as well as magician, when I first began\nto write on conjuring, I should have chosen a dif-\nferent pen-name. In the light of later events, my\nselection was unfortunate. My identity has long\nbeen an open secret, but as I cannot flatter myself\nthat it is universally known, I take this opportun-\nity to assure all whom it may concern that I am\nBritish to the backbone.\nLOUIS HOFFMANN."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 15, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN\nAND\nVENTRILOQUIST'S GUIDE.\nCHAPTER I.\n\"\nINTRODUCTORY.\nM' object in writing these hints on CONJURING is for the bene-\nfit of amateurs to promote (lively and entertaining amuse-\nment for the home circle and social gatherings.\nMy large experience enables me to explain and simplify many\nof the best tricks and illusions of the art. I present the key to\nmany of the mystical mysteries which have puzzled and bewild-\nered our childhood days as well as confounded us in our matur-\ner years.\nThe young student can in a very short time, if he be in the\nleast of an ingenious turn, amuse and astonish his friends, neigh-\nbors and acquaintances.\nPreference has been given to those tricks which suggest\nothers, the more complete and difficult performances and\nillusions have been passed by as being out of place ; I"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 15, "folder": "", "text": "CONTENTS\nPORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR HOFFMANN\nFrontispiece\nPAGE\nPREFACE\nvii\nSOME New APPLIANCES OF GENERAL UTILITY\n1\nMagical Mats\n1\nFairy Flower-Pots\n5\nPatter Introducing the Flower-Pots\n8\nAdhesive Cards and Tricks Therewith\n10\nThe Missing Card\n12\nNOVEL APPLICATIONS OF THE \"BLACK ART\" PRINCIPLE\n17\nBlack Art Mats and Black Art Patches\n17\nA Magical Transposition\n23\nThe Detective Die\n26\nDissolving Dice\n32\nWhere is It?\n38\nCARD TRICKS\n46\nArithmetic by Magic\n46\nThose Naughty Knaves\n49\nMagnetic Magic\n55\nThe Telepathic Tape\n57\nA Card Comedy\n60\nThe Fast and Loose Card-Box\n63\nA Royal Tug of War\n64\nSympathetic Cards\n66\nTell-Tale Fingers\n68\nDivination Doubly Difficult\n72\nA New Long Card and Tricks Therewith\n77\nThe Mascot Coin Box\n83\nix"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 16, "folder": "", "text": "6\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nshall not, therefore, in these elementary papers advert to those\nexperiments which require ample resources, or a prepared stage,\nfor exhibiting them-or which can only be displayed to advan-\ntage by consummate skill and the most adroit manipulation-\nbut confine my remarks at present to thos\u00e8 branches of the art\nto the performance of which a young amateur may aspire with\nprospect of success.\nA few hours' practice will enable the learner to execute the\nsimple tricks that I shall first treat of; and they will only re-\nquire for their display such articles as are readily available in\nevery household. Most of them will be supplied by any com-\npany of a few friends, and if not in the parlor, can be brought\nfrom no greater distance than the kitchen or housekeeper's\nroom ; such as handkerchiefs, coins, oranges, or eggs, a\nglass bowl, etc., etc. There may only remain a few inexpensivo\narticles to bo supplied from repositories for the sale of conjur-\ning apparatus, or they may be had direct from the publishers of\nthis work.\nIt may be well explicitly to avow that the time is quite gone\nby when people will really believe that conjuring is to be donc\nby supernatural agencies. No faith is now reposed in the\n\"black art of sorcery,\" or even in the art to which the less re-\npulsive name was given of \"white magic.' Many years havo\nelapsed sinco conjurors have seriously assumed to themselves\nany credit as possessing supernatural powers, or as enabled by\nspiritual agency to reveal that which is unknown to science and\nphilosophy, or mysteriously to work astonishing marvels.\nA well-marked contrast exists between the old school O. con-\njurors and those of modern times. The former, who used bold-\nly to profess that they employed mysterious rites and preter-\nnatural agency, designedly put the spectator upon false inter-\npretations, while they studiously avoided giving any elucidation\nof tho phenomena, nor would ever admit that tho wonders dis-\nplayed were to bo accounted for by the principles of science and\nnatural philosophy.\nModern conjurors advance no such pretensions. They use as\nscientifically as possible the natural properties of matter to aid"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 16, "folder": "", "text": "<\nPAGE\nMISCELLANEOUS TRICKS\n88\nMoney-Making Made Easy\n88\nThe Missing Link\n92\nCulture Extraordinary\n97\nThe Bounding Beans\n104\nLost and Found\n110\nThe Riddle of the Pyramids\n115\nThe Miracle of Mumbo Jumbo\n123\nThe Story of the Alkahest\n130\nThe Oracle of Memphis\n137\nThe Mystery of Mahomet\n146\nThe Bewildering Blocks\n156\nAn \"Od\" Force.\n162\nThe Mystery of the Three Seals\n170\nThe Wizard's Pocketbook\n.\n180\nCONCERNING PATTER\n192\nTHE USE OF THE WAND\n203\nA FEW WRINKLES\n215\n.\n222"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 17, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n7\nin their exhibition of wonderful results. They are content to\nlet the exhibition of their art appear marvelous They some-\ntimes mystify the matter, and so increase the puzzle, in order\nto heighten the interest and amusement of the spectators; but\nthey throw asido any solemn asseveration of possessing hidden\npowers, or of ability to fathom mysterious secrets.\nIt may be admitted that proficients and exhibitors still adopt\nlanguage that has become current with conjurors, and in com-\nmon parlance it may be asserted that the wonderful Mr. So-and-\nSo undertakes to pass some solid object through a wall or a ta-\nble ; to change black into white, and white into black; to place\nrings in.closely-fastened boxes, or draw money out of people's\nears; and conjurors may with ridiculous humor distract the at-\ntention of spectators, so that accurate observation is not fixed\nupon the object that is to undergo before their eyes some sin-\ngular transformation ; but no outrageous bombast or positive\nfalsehoods are commonly advanced. And the practical meaning\nof any exaggerated pretension is clearly understood to mean no\nmore than that Mr. So-and-So undertakes to present before you\nwhat, TO ALL APPEARANCE, is the conversion of black into white,\nor vice versa and the audience aro clearly aware that no more\nis assumed to bo presented to them than a very striking illu-\nsion, undistinguishable from a reality and how this is effected\nwill bo in many cases wholly untraceable, and therefore the\ntrick is inimitable.\nWe may be permitted to feel some pleasure in the conviction\nthat tho exhibition of our art in its more striking exploits is\nreally marvelous, and very attractive; for we certainly havo\ntho power of placing some astonishing phenomena before our\naudience: and we may surely prize the estimation with which\ntho uninitiated are disposed to honor us, but we erect no vain-\nglorious assumptions upon these data, as we are quite contented\nwith fair praise intelligently-accorde to us. And so far from\nclosely concealing tho principles and arcana of our science, we\nare ready plainly to avow that it all depends upon faculties that\nall may attain by patient culture, and exhibit by careful prac-\ntice. Undoubtedly thero are less and greater degrees of exoel-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 17, "folder": "", "text": "LATEST MAGIC\nINTRODUCTORY\nSOME NEW APPLIANCES OF GENERAL UTILITY\nTHE little appliances to be presently described\nare the outcome of ideas which, after a long period\nof incubation in my note-books, have ultimately\ntaken concrete form in what, I venture to believe,\nwill be found to be practical and useful items of\nmagical apparatus. I may further claim that they\ncombine in an exceptional degree absolute inno-\ncence of appearance with a wide range of practical\nutility. Examples of their uses are indicated in\nthe following pages, but the inventive reader will\nfind that these by no means exhaust their possibili-\nties of usefulness.\nMAGICAL MATS\nThe first to be described are of two different\nkinds, to be known as the \"Card\" and \"Coin\" Mat\nrespectively. They are in appearance simply cir-\ncular table-or plate mats, with an ornamental\n1"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 18, "folder": "", "text": "8\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nlence to be obtained by proportionate intelligence and dexterity.\nThere are attainments in the art, at which, by natural qualifica-\ntion and peculiar adaptation, special study, practice, and expe-\nrience enable somo few only to arrive. These qualifications\ncannot be easily communicated to every one who might wish to\npossess them; and therefore the highest adepts will ever havo\nan incommunicable distinction. But this is no moro than is\nthe case in the medical, the legal, and any learned profession,\nin all which the most eminent proficients reserve to themselves,\nor unavoidably retain, an unquestioned superiority. At tho\nsame time there is much in our art that may be communicated,\nand the present papers will show to our friends that we are will-\ning to impart to others such portions of our art as they are ca-\npable of acquiring; and we trust that what wo shall communi-\ncate to them will furnish them much rational recreation among\nthemselves, and enable them to supply innocent and interesting\namusement to their friends and companions."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 18, "folder": "", "text": "2\nLATEST MAGIC\nborder as depicted in Fig. 1, and about seven inches\nin diameter. In the centre of each is an embossed\nshield, ostensibly a mere ornament, but in reality\nserving, as will presently be seen, an important\npractical purpose.\nFig. 1\nTo the casual observer the two mats look pre-\ncisely alike, but there are in reality important\npractical differences between them. The \"coin\"\nmat is covered with leather on both sides, and each\nhas the embossed shield, so that, whichever side is\nuppermost, no difference is perceptible to the eye.\nIn the case of the \"card\" mat the upper surface\nonly is of leather, the under side being covered with\nbaize. The object of this difference is that the\nexposure (accidental or otherwise) of the baize-\ncovered side of the card mat may induce in the\nmind of the spectator the assumption that the\nunder side of the coin mat is covered in the same\nway, such assumption naturally precluding the\nidea that it is reversible."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 19, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n9\nCHAPTER II.\nOF PALMISTRY AND PASSES\nnature and limit of the art of Conjuring has now\ndefined-what it is that we assume to do, and\nwherein we have discontinued the exaggerated preten-\nsions of the conjurors of the old school and I have hinted in\nwhat respects, and within what bounds, a young amateur may\ngim at exhibiting some amusing experiments in our art. But\nit remains for me to explain the grand pre-requisite for a novice\nto cultivate before he should attempt to exhibit before others\neven the simplest tricks of prestidigitation or legerdemain, to\nwhich we at present confine our attention.\nI have first to speak of PALMISTRY, not in the sense that the\nfortune-teller uses the word, but as expressing the art of the\nconjuror in secreting articles in the PALM of one hand while he\nappears to transfer those articles to his other hand. It is abso-\nlutely necessary that the young amateur should acquire the habit\nof doing this so adroitly as to escape the observation of others\nwhile doing it openly before their eyes.\nThe two principal passes are the following:\nFIRST PASS or, method of apparently carrying an\nobject from the right hand to the left, while actually re-\ntaining it in the right hand.\nThe reader will please to observe that the illustrative sketches\ndepict the hands of the performer as seen by himself.\nFIRST POSITION OF PASS 1.\nThe right hand, having the knucles and back of the fingers\nturned toward the spectators, and holding openly a cent, or\nsome similar object, between the thumb and fore-finger, must\nbe moved toward the left hand.\nThe left hand must be held out, with the back of the hand\ntoward the ground, as exhibited in the illustration. (Fig. 1.)"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 19, "folder": "", "text": "MAGICAL MATS\n3\nEach mat has a secret space, after the manner of\nthe old \"multiplying\" salver, between its upper\nand under surfaces. The opening in each case is\nopposite the lower end or point of the shield before\nmentioned, so that, however the mat may be placed,\na glance at the shield will always furnish a guide\nto the position, for the time being, of the opening.\nFig. 2\nIn the case of the card mat the secret space (see\nFig. 2) is just large enough to accommodate three\nplaying cards, one upon another. The corre-\nsponding space in the coin mat (Fig. 3) is shorter,\nnarrower and deeper, being designed to receive,"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 20, "folder": "", "text": "10\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nFIG. 1.\nEllie\nFirst Position of Pass 1.\nSECOND POSITION OF PASS 1.\nThe left hand must appear to close over the object that is\nbrought toward it, at the same instant that the right hand se-\ncretes and withdraws that object.\nThe left hand that appeared to receive it must continue\nclosed. The right hand, though it actually retains the object,\nmust be allowed to hang loosely over it, so that it appears to\nhave nothing in it.\nFIG. 2.\nSecond Position of Pass 1.\nThe performer then may blow upon the closed left hand, and\nmay say, \"Fly,\" or \"Begone,\" or any similar expression, and\nthen open his left hand, holding it forward. Of course there is\nnothing in it, and the object seems to have flown from it, and\nthe spectators are much surprised.\nSECOND PASS.-Method of apparently transferring\nan object from the left hand to the right, while retaining\nit in the left hand.\nFIRST POSITION.\nLet the left hand hold up the object in its open palm. The"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 20, "folder": "", "text": "4\nLATEST MAGIC\none upon the other, a couple of half-crowns, or\ncoins of similar size.\u00b9\nWhen required for use, the coin mat is prepared,\nshortly beforehand, by rubbing the whole of the\nspace within the ornamental border on one of its\nfaces with diachylon, in the solid form. The\nFIG. 3\ndiachylon is used cold, the necessary rriction melt-\ning it sufficiently, without any additional heating.\nThis treatment renders the surface of the mat, for\nthe time being, adhesive, without in any way alter-\ning its appearance. To make sure of its being just\nright, press a half-crown or penny down firmly\n1 Where coins of English denominations are referred to in the text,\nthe American wizard will naturally replace them by corresponding coins\nof the U. S. currency."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 21, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n11\nright hand is brought toward the left hand, but only appears to\ngrasp it.\nFig. 3.\nFirst Position of Pass 2.1\nSECOND POSITION.\nThe left hand secretes the object in its palm, while the fingers\nare allowed to fall loosely down, appearing to retain nothing\nunder them. At the very same moment the right hand must be\nclosed, and remain in shape as if containing the object, with the\nsecond joints of the fingers pointed toward the spectators, and\nthe back of the hand toward the ground. The performer then\nholding his right hand forward, may blow on it and say \"Change\nFIG. 4.\nSecond Position of Pass 2.\n-fly,\" and opening that hand, the spectator deems the object\nhas passed away from it, though in fact it has remained all along\nin the left hand.\nThe illusion in either of these passes is, that the spectator\nseeing both hands move as if the object were passing from one\nto the other, thinks it has done so ; whereas, in fact, the object"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 21, "folder": "", "text": "THE FAIRY FLOWER-POTS\n5\nupon it, turn the mat over, and wave it about\nfreely. If the coin adheres securely, the mat is\nin working order.\nTHE FAIRY FLOWER-POTS\nThese are, strictly speaking, only flower-pot\ncases, called in French cache-pots. They may be\nof leather or cardboard, ornamented on the out-\nside, but plain black inside, their general appear-\nFig. 4\nance being as shown in Fig. 4. They have neither\ntop nor bottom, and when not in use, can be opened\nout flat or rolled up as in Figs. 5 and 6, for greater\nportability.\nThe pair, when needed for use, are exhibited in"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 22, "folder": "", "text": "12\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nalways remains in the hand where it was first visible to the spec-\ntators. The BACK of that hand where the object is first displayed\nmust afterwards be kept well toward the spectators.\nObserve, the eye of the performer must rest always on the\nhand or object at which he desires the spectators to look, and\nwhatever he wishes them not to notice, he himself must refrain\nfrom looking at.\nIf it is not required that the very object that has been held up\nin these passes be seen again by the spectators, the performer\nmust quietly pocket it, or drop it on a handkerchief on his ta-\nble, or inside a hat, or otherwise get rid of it as soon as he con-\nveniently can.\nOn the contrary, if that very object must be again produced\nor transferred to a person standing at some little distance, this\nmust be effected by one of the following methods :\nEither you must take care beforehand to place adroitly in that\nperson's cap or pocket a double or similar object.\nOR, you must walk up to him, and putting your hand on his\nhair, sleeve, or pocket, quickly place there the object you have\nall\nalong retained, and which you must pretend by this ma-\nnoeuvre to find in his possession.\nOr, lastly, you will see in the first trick subjoined, a method\nof substituting one object for another.\nFIRST TRICK.-To command a dime to pass into the\ncentre of a ball of Berlin wool, EO that it will not be dis-\ncovered till the ball is unwound to the very last of its\nthreads.\nREQUISITE PREPARATIONS, TO DE MADE PRIVATELY.\nYou will require a glass bowl or quart basin, and you must\nhave a flattened tube of tin about four inches long. It must be\njust large enough to let a dime slide easily through it by its own\nweight. Round the end on this tubo wind a ball of Berlin wool\nof bright color, covering about two inches of the tube, and pro-\njecting about an inch bevond the end of it. Place this ball with\nthe tube in it in your right-hand pocket of coat tail, (or in the\nleft breast-pocket, if that is largo enough to hold it completely\nleft hand.\ncovered.) Lastly, place a dime concealed in the palm of your\nCommence the exhibition of the trick by requesting one of the\nspectators to mark a dime (or cent) of his own, so that he will\nbe sure to know it again. Then ask him to lend you that coin."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 22, "folder": "", "text": "6\nLATEST MAGIC\nthe first instance as one only, the one within the\nother. The professedly single pot, after being\nproved empty by exhibiting the interior and pass-\n0\n0\nFIG. 5\nFIG. 6\ning the hand through it, is made into two, by sim-\nply drawing out the inner one. The duplication\nis not presented as a trick, the modus operandi"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 23, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n13\nHolding it up in your right hand, you may say, 'Now. ladies\nand gentlemen, this is the marked dime which I shall experi-\nment with. The gentleman has accurately marked it, so that\nthere can be no mistako about its identity when reproduced.\"\nThen by Pass 1 pretend to transfer the marked coin to your left\nhand, but in reality retain it in your right hand. Next, hand\nwith your left hand your own dimo (which had been secreted in\n'hat hand) to some person. and request him to hold it. Chooso\nfor this person some one three or four yards distant from your-\nself, and also from the person who originally marked the coin.\nIt is unnecessary to explain that you do so, lest the two should\ncompare notes. Of course, the person who is asked to hold it\nwill believe that it is the very dime that was borrowed.\nYon may proceed to say : \"Now we waut a ball of worsted.'\nSo, placing your right hand in your pocket, pretend to fecl\nabout for something in your pocket, and while doing so you\nmust place the dime in the top of the tin tube, and shako it\ndown. Then carefully draw the tube ont of the ball of worsted;\nand leavo the tube in your pocket, bnt draw tho ball out of your\npocket, pressing it together whilo doing so.\nThen request some one to fecl the ball in order to ascertain\nthat it has no opening towards its centre.\nYon mayhero mako some humorons remark about your having\nsuch a ball in your pocket. As for instance: :\n\": Ladies may think it od:l that I havo such a ball of Berlin\nwool in my pocket. It was bought to please my consin Mary\nAnn, or my Aunt Tabitha. Well, it will do very fairly for our\nexperiment.\nThen request somo ono to hold tho glass basin containing the\nwoollen ball. Whilo you retain in your hand the end of tho\nwoollen thread, address the gentleman who has consented to\nhold the dime, asking him to hand it to you. Tako it in your\nright hand, pretend by Pass 1 to transfer it to your left hand,\nbut in reality keep it concealed in your right hand.\nHolding up your closed left hand, (which in fact has nothing\nin it.) yon may say :\n\"Now, dime, pass along this woollen thread into the very\ncentro of the woollen ball which is there held in tho glass bowl\nor basin.\"\nBlow upon your left hand, and show that the dime is gone.\nYou must adroitly get rid of the dime, which has remained\nsecreted in your right hand, by placing it in your pocket or\nsleeve while making somo humorous remark, or whilo asking\nsomo lady or gentleman to draw tho woollen thread till it is all\nunwound. It will bo dono tho quicker by letting the ball bo\nconfined loosely in the bowl with two fingers preventing its\nleaping out."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 23, "folder": "", "text": "THE FAIRY FLOWER-POTS\n7\nbeing self-evident, but it has a pretty effect, and\nthe exhibiting of the two pots as one in the first\ninstance admits of the presence, within the outer\none, of a secret pocket, open at top, as depicted in\nFig. 7, but folding down, when not in use, flat\nagainst its side.\u00b9\n0\no\n0\n0,\nFIG. 7\nThe main object of this pocket is to enable the\nperformer to \"vanish\" a card. The card to be\ngot rid of is dropped ostensibly into the flower-\npot, or rather, the pot being bottomless, through\nit on to the table, where, when the pot is lifted,\nthe spectators naturally expect to see it. It has\nhowever disappeared, having in fact been dropped\ninto the pocket, where it remains concealed. Two,\nor even three cards may on occasion be dealt with\nin the same way. By covering the pocket with the\n1 It is extremely difficult to construct the \"pots\" so that the pocket is\nworkable on the concave inner surface, but if they are made four, five or\nsix-sided the pocket folds against a flat surface and works perfectly.-ED,"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 24, "folder": "", "text": "14\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nDraw attention to how completely the coin is wrapped up till\nyou arrive at the very last circles, when it will drop into the\nbowl.\nHand the dime to the owner who marked it, and let him de-\nclare whether he recognizes it as the very one he lent you.\nHis affirmativo will surprise the spectators.\nSECOND TRICK.-To change a bowl of ink into clear\nwater, with gold fish in it.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION, TO BE MADE PRIVATELY BEFOREHAND.\nThe same glass bowl as in previous trick. If your bowl has\nnot a foot to it, it must be placed on something that will hold it\nhigh above your table. Some small fish, a white plate or sau-\ncer, a piece of black silk just fitting the inside of your bowl, a\nspoon of peculiar construction, so that in a hollow handle it will\nretain about a teaspoonful of ink, which will not run out as long\nas a hole near the top of the handle is kept covered or stopped.\nA large tumbler and two or three minnows will do for a simpler\nexhibition, but will, of course, not be so pleasing to the eye.\nPlace the black silk so as to cover the part of the bowl that is\nshaded; when damp it will adhere to the glass. Pour in clear\nwater to fill the space covered by the black silk, and placo the\nfish in the water.\nFig. 5.\nCommence the trick in public thus: Holding the spoon-han-\ndle slanting up and uncovering the hole in the handle, the ink\nwhich you have placed in the handle will run into the bowl of\nthe spoon, and the spoon being held carefully to the surface of\nthe water, concealing the black silk, will give the spectators the\nimpression that you fill the spoon from the glass bowl.\nPour the spoonful of ink on a white saucer, and show it round\nto convince the spectators it is ink. They will see it is undeni-\nably ink, and they will conclude, if the spoon were properly"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 24, "folder": "", "text": "8\nLATEST MAGIC\nfingers in the act of picking up the pot, the interior\nof the latter may be freely shown after their disap-\npearance.\nThe pocket, previously loaded accordingly\n(though the flower-pot is shown, to all appearance,\nempty), may also be used for the production of a\ncard or cards.\nPATTER APPROPRIATE TO THE FAIRY\nFLOWER-POTS\nThe flower-pots may be introduced as follows:\n\"Permit me to call your attention to one of my\nlatest improvements. Conjurers have a foolish\nfancy, as I dare say you have noticed, for borrow-\ning other people's hats. If a conjurer wants to\ncollect money from the air, he collects it in a hat.\nIf he wants to make an omelette, he cooks it in a\nhat. If he wants to hatch a few chickens, he does\nit in a hat. And, for fear of accidents, he never\nuses his own hat, but always borrows somebody\nelse's. It's very wrong of us. As Sir William\nGilbert says, about some other forms of crime,\n'It's human nature, P'raps. If so,\nO! isn't human nature low.'\nBut we all do it. The worst of it is, we get so in\nthe way of borrowing hats that we do it without\nthinking. You will hardly believe that one even-\ning I came away from the theatre with two hats."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 25, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n15\ninted out of the bowl, that the glass bowl contains nothing but\nink.\nBorrowing a silk handkerchief, place it for a few seconds over\nthe bowl, and feigning to be inviting fish to come to the bowl.\nexclaim Change! Then, placing your hand on the edge of\nthe bowl near yourself, draw off the handkerchief, and with it\ntake care to catch hold also of the black silk. The bowl when\nuncovered will exhibit the fish swimming about in clear water.\nWhile the spectators are surprised at the fish, return the hand-\nkerchief, having first dropped out of it the black silk on your\nside of the table. Decline giving any explanation, as people\nwill not thank you for dispelling the illusion.\nTHIRD TRICK,-The Dancing Egg.\nREQUISITE PREPARATION TO BE MADE IN PRIVATE.\nAn egg-shell that has been blown (my young friends will know\nthat the way to blow an egg is to make a small hole at each end\nof the egg. Then, by blowing at one end, the yolk will be\ndriven out, and the egg-shell be left empty.)\nMake a hole also on the side of the egg, in which insert a\nchip of wood, or a small pin, held by a fine black silk thread,\nabout twelve or fourteen inches long, which must have a loop at\nthe far end, which loop fasten to a button on the coat or waist-\ncoat and have on a dark vest, otherwise the dark thread be-\ncoming visible, will reveal the moving power.\nFIG. 6.\na\nCommence by borrowing two black hats. If there is an in-\nstrument in the room, ask some one to play a lively tune, as\n\" eggs are fond ofglively music to dance to.\" Then, with the\nbrim of a hat in each hand, interpose the round of each hat\nsuccessively under the thread that holds the egg, moving them\nfrom your breast toward the egg. The egg will appear to move\nof itself over the hats, as you place them under it."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 25, "folder": "", "text": "THE FAIRY FLOWER-POTS\n9\nOne of them was my own. The other I had bor-\nrowed-from under the seat. You don't believe\nit? Well, I said you wouldn't. I always know!\n\"But that is not all. It isn't only the bad effect\non the conjurer's own morals, and sometimes on\nthe hat. People are SO careless. They do leave\nsuch funny things in their hats. Cannon balls and\nbirdcages; babies' socks and babies' bottles; rab-\nbits and pigeons, and bowls of fish, and a host of\nother things. And just when you are going to pro-\nduce some brilliant effect, you are pulled up short\nby finding some silly thing of that sort in the hat.\nIt's most annoying.\n\"So, after thinking it over, I made up my mind\nto do away with hats altogether. Of course I\ndon't mean for putting on people's heads, but so\nfar as conjuring is concerned, and it struck me\nthat a pretty flower-pot, like this, would form a\ncapital substitute.\" (Show as one, the combined\npots, inside and out.) \"Much nicer than a hat,\ndon't you think? It is prettier, to begin with, and\nthen again, you can see right through it, and make\nsure there is no deception. You see that at pres-\nent the pot is perfectly empty.\n\"But no! I scorn to deceive you. I am like\nGeorge Washington, except that I haven't got a\nlittle axe. I cannot tell a lie. At least it hurts\nme very much to do so, and I don't feel well enough\nto do it now. No! It is useless any longer to dis-\nguise it! The pot is not really empty, for you see"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 26, "folder": "", "text": "16\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nYou must not allow people to handle the egg on the thread af-\nterwards, for when they see the simplicity of the process they\nwill undervalue the trick, whereas it appears marvellous as long\nas they do not understand how the extraordinary movements\nare produced. And in these illusions, as Hudibras expresses it,\nDoubtless, the pleasure is as great\nIn being cheated as to cheat.\n-\nFOURTH TRICK-The Walking Cent.\nPRELIMINARY PREPARATION IN PRIVATE.\nAsk for a long dark hair from some lady's tresses. Have a\npin in shape of a hook, or a small loop affixed to the end of this\nhair, and fasten a little piece of beeswax (less than a pea) at the\nother end of the hair. Fasten the hair by the loop to a button\non your vest, taking care to wear a dark-colored vest. The\nhair may be allowed to hang from your vest, with the bees-\nwax visible. Have a glass of water or cup on the table.\nCommence the exhibition of the trick by borrowing a cent.\nWhile pretending to examine the cent to see if it is a good one,\npress the waxed end of the hair firmly to the under side cf tho\ncent, and place it about a foot from the edge of n table. Then\nbid the cent to move toward you, to the right or to the left, and\nby gently moving your body in whatever direction you name,\nthe hair will draw the cent in the same direction. You may\nsay, while your left hand is near the table, \"Now, cent, movo\nup my arm. Advancing your a.m gently, the cent will appear\nto move up to your elbow. It is your arm that moves, but it\nwill appear to the spectators as if the cent moved or you may\nhelp it up the outside of the sleeve by interposing your right\nhand under the hair, so as to draw up the cent, while appearing\nto beckon it.\n\"Now, cent, as you have performed so well, you shall have a\nbath.\" Placing the tumbler near the edge of the table, draw\nthe cent into it. After exhibiting it in the water, say, \": Oh,\ncent, you must not stay so long in the water.\" Then jerk it out\nupon the table. Detach the waxed end of the hair by your\nnail, after which return the cent to the person who loaned it\nto you.\nWhen performing this trick, in order to keep the spectators at\na little distance, you must inform them that the cent is very\nsusceptible to magnetic influences, and request ladies not to ap-\nproach too near it, as the loadstones of their eyes are the causo\nof the magnetic attraction.\""}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 26, "folder": "", "text": "10\nLATEST MAGIC\nhere is another inside it.'' (Produce second pot.)\n\"You wouldn't have thought it, would you ? In\nfact, you would never have known, if I hadn't told\nyou.\n\"Of course I could keep on doing this all the\nevening, but there wouldn't be much fun in it, and\nno time would be left for anything else, SO I will\nproceed at once to make use of the pots for a little\nexperiment with cards.\"\n(Proceed with any trick for which the card mat\nmay have been prepared.)\nN. B. It will be taken for granted, in the\ndescription of tricks dependent upon the use of the\nflower-pots, that these have been already intro-\nduced, after the above or some similar manner.\nADHESIVE CARDS AND TRICKS THEREWITH\nI believe I may safely claim that the device I\nam about to describe was, until I disclosed it some\nmonths ago in the Magazine of Magic, an absolute\nnovelty. It consists in the preparation of one card\nof a pack (or, better still, of a spare card, to be\nsubstituted at need for its double), by rubbing one\nor other of its surfaces, shortly before it is needed\nfor use, with diachylon, in the solid form.\nWe will suppose, in the first instance, that the\nback of the card is so dealt with. The rubbing\ndoes not alter its appearance, but gives it a thin\ncoating of adhesive matter, and if another card is"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 27, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n17\nMy young friends must remember that it is absolutely neces-\nsary to keep up in spectators their belief in the niysterious, and\ntherefore must decline on the spot to give explanations before or\nafter the performance of this trick, however they may be dis-\nposed to reveal the secret privately to any friend. A singular\ninstance is recorded of a person who was grievously disappointed\nwhen by importunity he had received an explanation of this very\ntrick, which had appeared at first to him a most marvellous phe-\nnomenon; and he was quite annoyed when the gilt was stripped\noff his ginger-bread. It is said that a gentleman walked into a\nFIG. 7.\n00\ncoffee-room at Manchester, England, and was exhibiting to a\nfriend the above trick. A traveler at a table near them had his\nattention drawn by their laughing discourse, while one of them\nexhibited the trick to the other. The cold barrier of English\nreserve was broken down, and he addressed one of the strangers,\nrequesting to be informed how the trick was done. For his part\nhe imagined it must be connected with some perfectly new phil-\nosophical law of attraction involved in the experiment. \" Will\nyon be kind enough to tell me I shall be happy to offer n fee\nto learn it. I was about to proceed by the next train, but I will\ngladly defer my journey to understand this, which appears so\nunaccountable.\""}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 27, "folder": "", "text": "ADHESIVE CARDS\n11\npressed against the surface SO treated, the two\nadhere, and for the time become, in effect, one card\nonly, viz., the one whose face is exposed, the other\nhaving temporarily disappeared from the pack.\nThis renders possible many striking effects. To\ntake an elementary example, let us suppose that\nthe old-fashioned flat card-box, or some other\nappliance for magically producing a card, is\nloaded with, say, a seven of diamonds. The cor-\nresponding card is forced on one of the company,\nand taken back into the middle of the pack, on\nthe top of the prepared card. The performer does\nnot disturb or tamper with the pack in the smallest\ndegree. He merely squares up the cards, and,\npressing them well together, hands them to be\nshuffled, meanwhile calling attention to the card-\nbox, which is shown apparently empty. He then\nasks the name of the drawn card, announcing that\nit will at his command leave the pack and find its\nway into the box.\nHe now counts off the cards, showing the face\nof each as he does so, and leaving it exposed upon\nthe table. The seven of diamonds has disap-\npeared, being in fact hidden behind the prepared\ncard, which we will suppose to be in this instance\nthe queen of clubs.\nLeaving the cards outspread upon the table, the\nperformer opens the card-box, and shows that the\nmissing card has somehow found its way into it.\nIn the hands of a novice, the trick might end at"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 28, "folder": "", "text": "18\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nThe gentleman declined for a considerable time ; but at\nlength, being overcome by the importunity, in order to get rid\nof the matter, assented. The time of the departure of the train\nhad arrived and passed by, and the aspirant offered two guineas\nto learn the trick. The gentleman acceded to bis request on\ncondition that he should faithfully promise not to reveal it to\nothers, or to make public the mystery. \"Agreed,\" says tho\n'traveler. The mail train was gone-the money paid-tho trick\nexhibited and explained to him. \"Oh!\" cried the traveler,\n\" how easy and plain it is. What a simpleton I have been to\nlose my journey and spend my money only to learn how you-.\"\n\"\nStop!\" cried the gentleman, \"remember you have promised\nnot to divulge the secret.\" \" Yes, but how foolish to care for\nan experiment which only depends on-. Stop, sir, stop.\nAre you going to tell all the room ?\" and thus a good half-hour's\namusement was caused by the traveler fretting over his simpli-\ncity, and having relinquished an important journey for that\nwhich, though marvellous while a secret, became so simple and\nuninteresting to him after an explanation."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 28, "folder": "", "text": "12\nLATEST MAGIC\nthis point; but even a novice may very well carry\nit a stage further. To do so, he will in the first\nplace replace the card in the box, in such a manner\nthat it can be again \"vanished.\" In gathering\ntogether the outspread cards, he takes care to place\nthe queen of clubs on top of the rest. As this,\nhowever, is the double card, the actual top card is\nof course the missing seven of diamonds. It is\nan easy matter, in handling the cards, to detach\nthis from the queen of clubs, and, after a little\n\"talkee-talkee,\" show that it has left the box and\nreturned to the pack.\nThe above would, however, be much too crude\nand elementary a proceeding to commend itself to\nthe expert. In the trick next to be described the\nsame expedient is employed after a more subtle\nfashion.\nTHE MISSING CARD\nThe requirements for this trick consist of two\ncomplete packs of cards and an extra card, which\nwe will suppose to be the knave of diamonds. One\nof the two packs, which we will call A, has on top\na card made adhesive at the back as above\ndescribed, and its own knave of diamonds at the\nbottom. The other pack, B, is wholly unprepared.\nThe first step is to offer pack B to be shuffled,\nand when it is returned to palm on to it the spare\nknave of diamonds, after which the pack is left"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 29, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n19\n-\nCHAPTER III.\nTRICKS WITH AND WITHOUT COLLUSION.\nI'\nresuming my hints to amateurs, I shall now offer some re-\nmarks upon two subjects.\nFrrst.--] will notico the class of tricks th at are performed by\nthe collusion of a confederate. Old books on conjuring record\nseveral of this description, and some conjurors still practise\nthem. But I do not advise the inexperienced frequently to ex-\nhibit tricks of this sort, for the co-operation of assistants used\nin them is liable to be traced by spectators, or to be divulged by\nthe person who has been employed to aid in the exhibition of\nthem. They may, indeed, be very well as a make-shift until\ndexterity of hand is acquired; but they will always rank as an\ninferior branch of the science of conjuring, and if the collusion\nis discovered, it will throw discredit even upon those tricks\nwhich the same performer may exhibit without such collusive\narrangement. An instance of the annoying failure of such de-\npendence upon confederates is recorded in \"Houdin's Memoirs.\"\nIt is thero related that Torrini, at the commencement of his ca-\nreer, was insidiously induced by an envious rival (Pinetti) to\nundertako a public exhibition of his art before a very grand as-\nsembly. Torrini was at the time diffident of his own attain-\nments, but he was persuaded to make the attempt by the assur-\nance of Pinetti that he would take care that several confeder-\nates should be present, and should help in carrying out sundry\nillusions which he would have to display. One of these was,\nthat the conjuror, after borrowing a ring, was to restoro it magi-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 29, "folder": "", "text": "THE MISSING CARD\n13\ntemporarily for the time being in view on the table.\nThe next step is to pick up pack A, and force from\nit the knave of diamonds, receiving it back on top of\nthe prepared card, passed to the middle of the pack\nfor its reception. Squaring up the pack and\napplying the necessary pressure, the performer\noffers it to be shuffled, meanwhile delivering him-\nself to something like the following effect.\n\"Before going further, ladies and gentlemen,\nI want you to remember exactly what has been\ndone. A card has been chosen from this pack. It\nhas been put back again, the cards have been\nshuffled, and you can all bear witness that I have\nnot touched them since. Nobody knows, except\nthe lady who chose it, what card she chose.\nWhereabouts in the pack it may be at this moment\nnot one of us knows, even the lady herself. I can\nassure you truthfully that I don't, but I propose,\nby force of magic, to compel that card, whatever it\nmay be, to leave that pack altogether, and pass into\nthe other one. Nay, more than that, I shall com-\npel it to place itself at any number in that pack\nyou like to name. What shall we say ? Seventh:\nGood.\n\"Now please bear in mind that that pack, like\nthe other, has just been shuffled, and that I have\nnot touched it since. It is therefore manifestly\nimpossible that I should know the position of any\ncard in it. Of course, as there is already a knave\nof diamonds in the pack, it is just possible, though"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 30, "folder": "", "text": "20\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ncally into the possession of its owner. The ring was borrowed,\nand some mysterious gesticulations practised; but instead of the\ncontemplated result being produced, the false confederate pro-\nclaimed aloud that he had lent a very valuable jewelled ring, and\nhad only received back a common copper ring. The audience\nwas of course disappointed at such words so derogatory to the\nconjuror This unpleasant feeling was deepened by the malic-\nious meddling of another false confederate. Torrini had to\npresent some cards to the King of Naples, who was honoring the\nassembly by witnessing the exhibition, and a card was selected\nby his Majesty. Instead, however, of being pleased with what\nhe saw on the card, the king manifested intense disapprobation.\nThe confederate had written on the card words of disrespect and\ninsult, and Torrini had to retire amid the loud censures of the\nenraged spectators. There may. be no danger of so disastrous\nresults to a young amateur; but dissatisfaction of a milder kind\nwill probably ensue whenever it is discovered that any trick has\ndepended upon the secret co-operation of an assistant among\nthe spectators.\nThe SECOND topic which I propose at present to discuss is the\nemployment of mechanism-such mechanical constructions as\nboxes with false sides, cabinets with secret drawers, or double\ncompartments, etc.\nIt makes a great difference whether such arrangements are\nused as subordinate aids, or as constituting the essence and sub-\nstance of the illusion. In the former respect it is quite legiti-\nmate to take advantage of any well-arranged mechanical aid su-\nbordinately. In fact, nearly all tricks must be performed with\nsome modified aid of artistic contrivance, or with mechanical\nimplements adroitly used. The conjuror, thereforc, unavoid-\nably requires, and may advantageously employ, mechanical ar-\nrangements to give greater effect to his illusions. I only wish\nto dissuade the learner from relying solely upon mere mechani-\ncal puzzles, or artistic contrivances, for furnishing an interesting\nexhibition of the conjuror's art.\nThe fewer the contrivances which he employs of this sort, and\nthe more entirely the performance rests upon sleight-of-hand\nthe more lively will be the surprise of the spectators."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 30, "folder": "", "text": "14\nLATEST MAGIC\nscarcely likely, that that card may have been\nshuffled into the seventh place. We will see.\"\nHe counts off cards from the top of the pack on\nto the table, faces down, not exposing any card till\nhe comes to the seventh, which he holds up so that\nall may see it. \"Now, Madam, is that your card?\nI don't want to know the name of it yet. It is not\nyour card I did not suppose it was, for the\nchances were over fifty to one against it, but you\nnever can tell!\"\nHe gathers up the cards counted off, and without\ndisturbing their order, replaces them on the top\nof the pack, thereby bringing the original top card\nto the seventh place.\n\"Now please observe that I do not touch these\ncards again till the miracle has actually happened.\nI will now ask you, madam, to be good enough to\nname your card. The knave of diamonds, you\nsay ? That is all right. Had you taken the knave\nof clubs, I should have feared for the success of\nmy experiment, for that knave always gives\ntrouble, if he can; but the knave of diamonds is a\nvery gentlemanly card, and I have no doubt that\nhe will readily oblige. Now, Percy (perhaps you\ndidn't know his name was Percy), I want you to\nleave the pack you are in, and place yourself sev-\nenth in the other pack. Go at once, like a good\nboy. Start at the top, and go straight down.\nOne. two, three, four, five, six, seven!\n\"I should think he has arrived by this time."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 31, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n21\nI myself prefer doing without the aid of any confederate und\nwithout mechanical aids ; but I must remember that I am writ-\ning for amateurs and novices in the art, and that, in proportion\nas they are unpractised in palmistry, and in what the French\nterm prestidigitation, (preste digite, signifying \"ready fingers,\")\nit will be desirable for them, at first, to have the assistanco\nwhich mechanism will supply towards the exhibition of their\ntricks.\nLet them, however, keep such aids as subordinate and as se-\ncret as possible. For instance, in the preparation for exhibiting\nthe first trick described on page 12, the small tin tube (which is\nrequisite for the performance of that trick) must not be seen by\nthe audience, either BEFORE or AFTER the trick is exhibited, but\nmust be kept secr\u00eated in the pocket. Again, in Trick No. 4,\nthe preparation of the hair and beeswax must be made PRI-\nVATELY beforehand; and these implements must vanish out of\nsight when the trick is over. And the reader must observe that\nin both the first and fourth tricks the mechanical aid employed\nis the minor and subordinate part of the tricks, and that a suc-\ncessful exhibition of either of thcm depends really on the dex-\nterity of the passes, and of manipulations by the performer.\nIt may be admitted, then, that, with regard to the first topic\nof our present paper, the young conjuror need not be restrained\nfrom employing the subordinate aid of an assistant, so far as\nthis may carry him over difficulties which he cannot otherwise\nsurmount in the present stage of his im perfect skill.\nAnd in regard to the second topic, the employment of me-\nchanical contrivances, (though it may be well to begin with\nthose departments of the art which are easier, because aided by\nmechanical apparatus,) it will be desirable for the amateur to\nstrive to get freo from dependence upon such aids. Mechanical\narrangements cannot be wholly discarded at any time, and the\nconjuror will always require a few implements; but the more\nhe advances in dexterity of hand, quickness of eye, control of\nhis hand and eye, instantaneous adaptation of his words and\nmovements to contingencies as they arise, the more able will he\nbecome to elude the observation of the most watchful specta-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 31, "folder": "", "text": "THE MISSING CARD\n15\nLet us make sure first, though, whether he has\nreally left the other pack.\"\nPicking up pack A, he counts the cards slowly,\nnot looking at them himself, but showing the face\nof each before laying it on the table. \"Stop me,\nplease, if you see the knave of diamonds.\" He\ncounts, \"one, two, three, four,' and so on to the\nend. \"Fifty-one cards only! Then there is one\ncard missing, and as you have not seen the knave\nof diamonds, and as all the other cards are here, it\nis plain that it is he who has left the pack. We\nhave still to find out whether he has obeyed orders,\nand gone over to the other pack. You wished him\nto place himself seventh, I think. I won't touch\nthe cards myself. Will some gentleman come for-\nward, and count them off for me?\" (This is\ndone.) \"The seventh card is really the knave of\ndiamonds, is it not ?\n\"But, you may say, this might be the knave\nproperly belonging to this pack. Please look\nthrough the pack, sir, and if there has been no\ndeception you will find the proper knave in some\nother part of it. You have found the other knave ?\nThen you will admit that that proves clearly that\nthis first one is the identical card the lady drew.\"\n1\nIt would be easy to give other combinations\ndependent on the use of the adhesive principle, but\n1 A somewhat more elaborate trick of mine on the same principle\n(The Elusive Card) will be found described in the Magazine of Magic,\nVol. II, pp. 13, 47."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 32, "folder": "", "text": "his chief anxiety was for the future of his wife and then\nfor his own decent burial. When these sad offices had\nbeen provided for, he became more peaceful, and when\nI rose to leave him, knowing that we had met probably\nfor the last time, he drew forth his chiefest treasure, a\nsuperb book of Robert-Houdin's programmes, his one\n[25]"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 32, "folder": "", "text": "22\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\ntors, and to mislead their imagination, so that they shall fancy\nthat they see him DO things which he only APPEARS to do, and\nshall blindly fail to observe actions and movements carried out\nbefore their very eyes.\nAnd here let me say, that I have, by long experience, come to\nthe conviction, that the simpler and more common the objects\nare on which, and with which. a trick is performed, and the less\nanything beyond dexterity of hand is openly used, the greater\nwill be the astonishment and the amusement of the spectators.\nThere are, it is true, some very striking and complicated illu-\nsions which it is impossible to present without resorting to art-\nistic contrivances of mechanical or scientific arrangement. On\nthese illusions, as being beyond the power of a young amateur,\nI need not dwell. Nor need the preceding remarks be consid-\nered as any disparagement of the combinations and extrinsic aid\nwhich are indispensable for developing such startling illusions.\nThe scope of my present remarks is simply to this effect, that\nto depend mainly upon the co-operation of a confederate, or\nupon mechanical contrivances, for what can be far better carried\nout by mere sleight-of-hand, will not pass for a satisfactory ex-\nhibition of conjuring now-a-days; and the amateur will find\nthat, as he advances in skill and dexterity, he will swim more\nfreely the less ho trusts to such unsubstantial bladders to uphold\nhim.\nHaving thus discussed my two topics I shall now add explana-\ntions of a few more tricks, which the learner may practise with\nthe hope of making progress in the art of conjuring. The only\nway to make such progress and gain high attainments in the art,\nis to practise diligently over and over again the passes I havo\ndescribed in my former paper, and to learn to do a few tricks\nneatly, and without hesitation or stumbling. I subjoin, there-\nfore, some simple but effective tricks, in which they will do well\nto perfect themselves."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 32, "folder": "", "text": "16\nLATEST MAGIC\nthese may safely be left to the ingenuity of the\nreader. If the face, instead of the back, of a given\ncard be treated with the adhesive, that card will\nitself disappear from the pack. By due adjust-\nment two adhering cards may (the one slightly\noverlapping the other) be made to form a tem-\nporary long or wide card."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 33, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n23\nTRICK 5.-To make a quarter and a penny change\nplaces, while held in the hands of two spectators.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a quarter of your own secreted in your right hand.\nThen borrow two handkerchiefs, and a quarter and a penny,\nfrom any one in the audience. Tell the lender to mark or accu-\nrately observe them, so that he will know them again. In plac-\ning them on the table, substitute your own quarter for the bor-\nrowed one, and conceal the borrowed one in your palm.\nMEMORANDUM.\nIt is better to use things borrowed than coin of your own.\nStill, the conjuror should provide himself with articles requisite\nto display any trick, or otherwise much delay may occasionally\narise while borrowing them.\nCommence the trick by pointing out where the quarter and\nthe penny are lying on the table. Take up the penny and show\nit openly to all. Then take up one of the handkerchiefs, and\nwhile pretending to wrap up the penny in it, substitute in its\nplace the borrowed quarter which you had concealed in your\npalm, and ask one of your friends to feel that it is enfolded in\nthe handkerchief, and bid him hold the handkerchief enclosing\nit above his head. Ask him if he has got the penny there safely.\nHe will reply that he has.\nThen take up your own quarter which was laid upon the ta-\nble ; pretend to wrap it up in the second handkerchief, but\nadroitly substitute the penny, (which you concealed in your\npalm while wrapping up the first handkerchief.) Ask some\nfriend to hold it up above his head, indulging in some facetious\nremark. Slip your own quarter into your pocket. Clap your\nhands or wave your wand, saying, \"Change.\" Tell your friends\nto unfold their handkerchiefs. They will be astonished to find\nthat the quarter and penny have changed places.\nTRICK 6.-Another trick with the dime, handkerchief,\nand an orange or lemon\nPREPARATION.\nHave an orange or lemon ready, with a slit made in its side\nsufficiently large to admit the dime easily ; and have in your\npocket a good-sized silk handkerchief with a dime stitched inio\none of its corners."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 33, "folder": "", "text": "NOVEL APPLICATIONS OF THE\n\"BLACK ART\" PRINCIPLE\nBLACK ART MATS AND BLACK ART PATCHES\nThe Black Art Table has long since established\nitself in the affections of the conjurer as one of his\nmost effective aids. At a stage performance the\npresence of one or more such adjuncts is almost a\nmatter of course, but the drawing room performer\nfinds many occasions when, for one reason or\nanother, the use of such an aid is precluded.\nSome wizards, as a matter of personal convenience,\ndecline to burden themselves with more artistic\nluggage than can be bestowed in an ordinary hand-\nbag. Others, again, hold (and not without rea-\nson) that the use of a special table, imported by\nthe performer himself, tends to discount the marvel\nof his show; as being suggestive of that \"prepara-\ntion\" which every artistic conjurer is anxious to\ndisclaim. It is no doubt an easy matter to arrange\na good enough programme for which the aid of\n\"black art\" is not needed, but this means the\nexclusion not merely of a valuable auxiliary, but\nof many of the most striking magical effects.\nI have pleasure in introducing to the reader a\nsubstitute which, though its capabilities fall a good\n17"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 34, "folder": "", "text": "24\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nBorrow a marked dime. Take out your handkerchief, and\nwhile pretending to wrap this dime in the handkerchief, conceal\nit in your palm, and take care that the one previously sewn into\nthe corner of the handkerchief can be felt easily through tho\nhandkerchief. Giving it to one of your friends, tell him to feel\nthat it has the dime in it, and to hold it up over his head firmly.\nWhile giving these directions to your friend, the dime that is in\nyour palm must be transferred to your pocket, and introduced\ninto the slit of the orange. Then bring the orange out of your\npocket, and place it on a table you will keep the slit on the side\naway from the audience.\nThen make a few mesmeric passes over the hand of the per-\nson that holds the handkerchief, saying, \"I will now destroy\nthe sense of feeling in your hands. Tell me, can you feel tho\ndime ?\" He will say, .6 Yes.\" You can reply, \"Oh, you must\nbe wrong, sir. See! I will shake out the handkerchief.\" Tak-\ning hold of one corner of it, shake it out, saying, \"Observe,\nnothing will fall to the ground. You see that you were mis-\ntaken about feeling it in the handkerchief.\"\nThe fact is, the dime being stitched in the corner' could not\nfall out, and you must take care not to let that corner of tho\nliandkerchief hit against the ground. Put the handkerchief in\nyour pocket, and say, \"But I must return the borrowed dime.\"\nExclaim : \"Fly, dime, into the orange on the table.\" Cut up\norange, and show the dime concealed in it, and then restore it\nto its owner, asking him to tell the audienco if he finds it to bo\nhis own marked dime.\nTRICK 7.-How to double your pocket money.\nThe only preparation 1S to have four cents concealed in your\nleft palm.\nCommence the trick by calling forward one of the spectators,\nand let him bring up his hat with him.\nThen borrow five cents, or have them ready to produce from\nyour own pocket should there be any delay.\nRequest your friend, while he places them one by one on a\nsmall plate or saucer, to count them audibly, so that the com-\npany may hear their number correctly. Inquire, \"How many\naro there ?\" He will. answer, \"Five.\" Take up the saucer and\npour them into your left hand, (where the other four are already\nconcealed.) Then say, \"Stay, I will place these in your hat,\nand you must raise it above your head, for all to see that noth-\ning is added subsequently to them.\" You will have placed\nthese nine cents in his hat unsuspected by him.\nBorrow five cents more. Make Pass 1, as described on page\n9, appearing to throw these five into your left hand, but really"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 34, "folder": "", "text": "18\nLATEST MAGIC\ndeal short of those of the actual table, will answer\nmany of its purposes, apart from special merits of\nits own, and which has the further recommenda-\ntion of exceptional portability. It may be appro-\npriately entitled the Black Art Mat. It consists\nof a piece of Bristol board of size and shape suit-\nable to the purpose for which it is to be used, COV-\nered on both sides with black velvet and edged with\nnarrow ornamental braid or binding. The one\nFIG. 8\nside has no speciality, but the other has a flat\npocket across one or more of its corners; as indi-\ncated in Fig. 8. In the case of a mat of small size\nthe pocket may extend diagonally from corner to\ncorner as in Fig. 9. The edge of the pocket may be\nbraided if preferred (the rest of the surface being\nornamented to correspond) but if the mat be well\nmade this is not necessary. The mouth of each\npocket is made slightly \"full,\" and is held open"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 35, "folder": "", "text": "The Author standing in front of Villa Frikell at K\u00f6tohenbroda, Germany. where the master magician, Wiljalba Frikell,\nassent the yearn of his life. From the Harry Houdini Collection."}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 35, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n25\nretaining them in your right hand, which is to fall by your side\nas if empty.\nAfterwards get rid of four of the five cents into your pocket,\nretaining only one in your right palm.\nHold up your closed left hand, and say, while blowing on it:\nPass, cents, from my left hand into the hat. Now, sir, be\nkind enough to see if they have come into your possession.\nPlease to count them aloud while placing them in the saucer.\"\nHe will be surprised, as well as the spectators, to find that the\ncents in his hat have become nine.\nYou may then put on a rather offended look, and say: \"Ah,\nsir ! ah ! I did not think you would do so ! You have taken\none out, I fear.\" Approaching your right hand to his sleeve,\nshake the sleeve, and let the one cent, which you have in your\nown hand, drop audibly into the saucer. It will raise a laugh\nagainst the holder of the hat. You can say : 'Excuse me, I\nonly made it appear that you had taken one. However, you see\nthat the original money is now doubled.\"\nTRICK 8.-The injured handkerchief restored.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a dime of your own wrapped in the centre of a piece of\ncambric about five or six inches in diameter, the ends falling\ndown loose. Conceal these in the palm of your left hand.\nBorrow a marked dime from any of the spectators, and a\nwhite cambric handkerchief. Throw the handkerchief spread\nout over your left palm, (holding under the handkerchief your\nown dime wrapped in the small piece of cambric )\nOpenly place the borrowed dime on the centre of the spread-\nout handkerchief. Keeping hold of that dime, jerk the ends of\nthe\nhandkerchief over, so as to fall loose down from the lower\nside of your left hand. Draw out from between your thumb\nand fingers (that is from the upper side of your left hand) about\ntwo inches of the smaller piece of cambric, containing your own\ndime. The spectators will naturally conceive the two pieces of\ncambric you hold in that hand to be merely the cambric hand-\nkerchief.\n)\nCall any of the spectators forward, and request him to mark\noff with his knife the portion of the piece of calico which holds\nyour own dime, and whisper to him to cut it completely off, and\nto let the dime drop on the table. The spectators will believe\nthat he has cut a hole in the handkerchief itself, and that the\ndime falling out is the one you recently borrowed, whereas it is\nin fact the other piece of calico that has been cut, and the bor-\nrowed coin remains still wrapped up in the handkerchief."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 35, "folder": "", "text": "BLACK ART MATS\n19\na quarter of an inch or so by means of a stiffening\nalong its inner edge. By having the millboard\nfoundation cut in half before it is covered, the mat\nmay be made to fold like a chessboard for greater\nportability.\nFIG. 9\nIf some small article, say a coin or ring, is laid\non mat just behind the mouth of the pocket, it may\nbe made to disappear therein, being in fact swept\ninto the pocket in the act of apparently picking it\nup. In the case of a coin, the pocket may by a\nslight alteration of procedure be used to effect a\n\"change\"; a substitute, palmed beforehand, being\nexhibited in place of the one professedly picked up\nfrom the mat.\nIt is desirable when placing the mat upon the\ntable for use to see that the mouth of the pocket\nis duly open and has not been, by any accident,\npressed flat, and SO closed."}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 36, "folder": "", "text": "26\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nPretend to blame the person who cut the two inches off, say-\ning: \"Dear me, sir, what have you done ? You have quite de-\nstroyed this nice handkerchief. Well, I hope, madam, you will\npardon the mistake, if I manage by magic to restore to you your\nhandkerchief in perfect order, and I request you to allow me to\ntry to do so. Carefully holding in the candle the edges of the\ncambric, (both of the part cut off and of the portion from which\nit was cut,) and letting the real handkerchief hang down from\nthe same hand, pretend with a conjuring wand to weld together\nthe edges of the cambric when they get hot, as a blacksmith\n\"welds metals together. You can prevent the flame from reach-\ning the real handkerchief by tightly pressing your fingers.\nThen exclaim : \"Oh, where is the dime ?\" and while picking it\nup from the table, get quietly rid of the pieces of cambric with\ntheir burnt edges into a hat or some corner unseen by the audi-\nence.\nHolding up the dime which you had just lifted from the table\nsay : \"But to complete my trick I must replace this dime in the\ncentre of the restored handkerchief, whence it was cut out.'\nMake the Pass 1, appearing to pass it into the centre of the\nhandkerchief, but retaining it in your hand, and afterwards se-\ncretly pocket it. The handkerchief has already the borrowed\ndime in it. Say to the handkerchief: \"Change-restore !\" and\nunfolding it, show the borrowed coin in it. Shake out the hand-\nkerchief and show it is all sound and right, and restore it with\nthanks, as well as the borrowed dime, to the owners.\nTRICK 9.-To make a large die pass through the crown\nof a hat without injuring it.\nI will now give my young friends a nice, easy trick, requiring\nvery little dexterity, as the articles for its exhibition can be pur-\nchased at any depot for the sale of conjuring apparatus there-\nfore the most diffident amateur will be able to display this trick.\nPREPARATION.\nHave a die exactly like the common dice, only it may be about\ntwo inches square. Have two covers for it, one of them exactly\nresembling the appearance of a die, only hollow, except that\none side of it is open, so that it can easily be placed over, or be\ntaken off, the solid die.\nThe other cover may be of decorated material, and it is in-\ntended to be placed over the first die-cover. Let this last cover\nbe made of some pliant material, so that by compressing gently\ntwo of its sides with your fingers, while lifting it up, you can\nlift up the first die-cover, which will be within it."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 36, "folder": "", "text": "20\nLATEST MAGIC\nThe utility of the black art mat, however, does\nnot depend upon the pocket only. Its unbroken or\n\"plain\" side, or indeed a mat wholly without\npockets may also be very effectively used for van-\nishing purposes. In this case a little auxiliary\nappliance comes into play. This is a small velvet\npatch, serving as an \"overlay.\" It may be round\nor square, according to the purpose for which it is\nintended to be used. For coin-vanishing purposes\nit is best circular, and about two inches (or less,\nas the case may be) in diameter. The foundation\nis in this case a disc of thin card covered on both\nsides with velvet, in colour and texture exactly cor-\nresponding with that of the mat, under which con-\nditions the patch, when laid on the mat, will be\ninvisible. The exact similarity of the two surfaces\nis a point of the highest importance for black art\neffects, and the velvet used, if not actually silk vel-\nvet, should at least be of the silk-faced kind. Vel-\nvet which is all cotton will never give satisfactory\nresults.\nIf a coin be laid on any part of the mat the\nperformer has only (in the supposed act of picking\nit up) to lay the velvet patch over it to render it\ninvisible. If it is desired to reproduce the coin, a\nhandkerchief shown to be empty, may be laid over\nthe patch, and a moment or two later picked up\nagain, bringing away the overlay within it, and\nagain revealing the coin in statu quo. A practical\nexample of the use of this device will be found in"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 37, "folder": "", "text": "[OE]"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 37, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n27\nCommence the trick by borrowing two hats place one with\nits rims upwards on the table, and show that you place in that\nhat the die with its first cover on it. But say, \"I forgot to ap-\npeal to the company whether they will like to see the trick dong\nvisibly or invisibly.\" They will most likely say, \"Visibly;' bnt\nit is of no consequence which answer they make, for the process\nof the trick is the same in either case.\nTake out from the lower hat the first cover, which is painted\nexactly like a die, and having placed the second hat (with its\nrims downwards) on the other hat, display the first cover, and\nopenly place it on the crown of the upper hat. All the specta-\ntors will believe it to be the solid die itself. Then take your\npenknife; you may just thrust it into the crown of the hat, and\npretend to cut all round the die-cover there lying ; say-\" I\nshall now bid it move into the lower hat, but it will not do so\nwhile uncovered, so I must place this ornamental cover over it.\"\nDo so; show that you have nothing in your hands or sleeves;\nthen wave your wand or your hand, and say, \"Change, pass,\ndie, into the lower hat.' Give it a little time. Then, compres-\nsing the outward cover gently, lift off also with it the painted\ndie-cover, which it has inside it. Lift up the lower hat, and\nshow the company the solid die lying in it. Show all that the\nupper hat has received no injury.\nThe illusion to the audience will be that the solid die has pas-\nsed through the crown of the upper hat without at all injuring\nit. Return the hats to the owners, and show them to be unin-\nured.\nTRICK 10.-To produce from a silk handkerchief bon-\nbons, candies, nuts, etc.\nPREPARATION.\nHave packages of various candies, wrapped up in bags of the\nthinnest tissne paper, and place them on your table rather shel-\ntered from observation. Have also a plate or two on your\ntable.\n-\nMEMORANDUM.\nIt will be always desirable to have the table removed two or\nthree yards at least from the spectators, and of a height that\nthey cannot see the surface of it while sitting down in front of\nit.\nGommence the trick by borrowing a silk handkerchief, or any\nlarge handkerchief. After turning it about, throw it out on the\ntable, so as to fall over one of these packages.\nHaving carefully observed where the bag lies, place your left"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 37, "folder": "", "text": "BLACK ART MATS\n21\nthe case of the trick entitled Lost and Found, post.\nAnother little device which will be found useful\nin connection with the black art mat is a cardboard\ndisc covered as above, to one side of which a coin,\nsay a half-crown or half-dollar, is cemented as in\nFig. 10\nFig. 10. Such a patch, laid on the mat, coin side\ndown, will attract no notice, but the mere act of\nturning it over will at any given moment produce\nthe coin. The \"change\" of a coin may be expected\nvery neatly by the aid of this device. Suppose,\nfor example, that the performer desires to retain,\nunknown to the spectators, possession of a marked\ncoin just handed to him. He lays it, to all appear-\nance, in full view upon the table, but as a matter\nof fact merely turns over a patch, loaded as above,\nalready on the table, the borrowed coin remaining\nin his hand.\nThe velvet patch may also be utilised in another"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 38, "folder": "", "text": "28\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nhand so as to take up the bag while catching hold of the middle\nof the handkerchief.\nTaking the handkerchief up by nearly the centre, the edges\nof it will fall around and conceal the bag make some pretended\nwavings of your wand or right hand over the handkerchief, and\nsay, \"Tow, handkerchief, you must supply my friends with\nsome bon-bons.\" Squeeze with your right hand the lower part\nof the bag which is under the handkerchief; the bag will burst,\nand you can shake out into a plate its contents.\nAsking some one to distribute them among your young\nfriends, you can throw the handkerchief (as it were carelessly)\nover another bag, from which you can in the same way produce\na liberal supply of some other sweetmeats, or macaroon bis-\ncuits, etc., etc., all of which will be duly appreciated by the ju-\nveniles, and they will applaud as long as you choose to continue\nthis SWEET trick.\n'\n-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 38, "folder": "", "text": "22\nLATEST MAGIC\nway for \"changing\" a borrowed coin. The per-\nformer, asking the loan of a marked coin, brings\nforward held in his left hand a velvet mat (of small\nsize) whereon to receive it; the right hand mean-\nwhile holding palmed against the second and third\nfingers the velvet patch, and between this and the\nhand a substitute coin of similar kind. Turning\n(to the left) towards his table, with the coin in full\nview on the mat, he (apparently) picks it up and\nholds it aloft with the right hand, placing the\nnow empty mat alone on the table. What he\nreally does is to lay the velvet patch over the bor-\nrowed coin and to pick the substitute in its place.\nThe original lies perdu on the mat, whence it is\nchild's play to gain possession of it at any later\nstage of the trick.\nThe process may be varied by placing the mat,\nafter receiving the borrowed coin upon it, at once\non the table, and a little later picking up the mat\nwith the left hand, then proceeding as above indi-\ncated. The advantage of this plan is that the turn\nto the table to pick up the mat masks for the\nmoment the right side of the performer and gives\nhim a convenient opportunity to palm the coin and\npatch, bestowed in readiness in the pochette on\nthat side.\nThe same principle may be applied with appro-\npriate modifications to card tricks. The idea of\nthe black ait mat is so completely a novelty that I\nhave not found leisure to give it the full considera-"}
{"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": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 39, "folder": "", "text": "THE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\n29\nCHAPTER IV.I\nPRACTICE.\nIN\nconjuring, as in all other arts and sciences, perseverance is\nrequisite in order to become expert and successful. There\nis no royal road, or possibility of acquiring the end, without ex-\nercising the means to that end. Let my young friends, then,\ncarefully practise over and over again the passes and the tricks\nwhich I have already explained to them. It is the only way to\nattain dexterity and confidence, without which they will never\nbe able to make any creditable exhibition of the art of conjur-\ning. After they have attained considerable skill and sleight-of-\nhand in displaying a few tricks, they will easily extend the range\nof their performances, and gradually rise to greater ability. I\nmay, therefore, parody an old injunction for obtaining success,\nand say There are three rules for its attainment: The firstis\n\"Practice.\" The second is Practice.\" The third is \"Prac-\ntice.\" In a word, constant and careful practice is requisite, if\nany wish to be successful as amateur conjurors. They should\nnever attempt to exhibit before their friends any tricks that they\nhave not so frequently practised that no bungling or hitch is\nlikely to occur in their performance of it.\nLet no one be staggered by the simplicity of the processes\nrecommended in these tricks. The result will in fact be all the\nmore astonishing, the simpler the operations employed.\nThe great point is the address of the performer, and that will\ncarry through successfully the means employed. However sim-\nple and insignificant those means may appear to the learner\nwhen they have been explained to him, if there is good address"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 39, "folder": "", "text": "A MAGICAL TRANSPOSITION\n23\ntion it deserves, and have probably far from\nexhausted its possibilities, but I offer by way of\nillustration the trick next following, which it seems\nto me would be rather effective, particularly as an\nintroduction to some other card trick. We will\ncall it\nA MAGICAL TRANSPOSITION\nPrepare two cards, say an eight of hearts and a\nseven of spades, by blackening all their edges save\none of the narrow ends,\u00b9 and backing each with\nvelvet matching the mat. Lay the two cards SO\ntreated face down with the white edge towards\nyourself on the mat at some little distance apart,\nor preferably on separate mats. Force corre-\nsponding cards on two members of the company\nand deliver an oration to something like the fol-\nlowing effect:\n\"We hear people talk sometimes about the\nquickness of the hand deceiving the eye. I sup-\npose such a thing must be possible, or nobody\nwould have thought of it, but it seems to me that if\nit did anything of the kind, either the hand must be\nextra quick, or the eye extra slow. I know I should\nbe afraid to attempt anything of that sort myself,\nbut if you are a magician of the right sort you have\nno need to do so, for you can deceive the eye with-\n1 Better still, thicken the under edge by the interposition between\ncard and velvet of a slip of white card, as described in The Detective\nDie, post."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 40, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF\nROBER'T-HOUDIN -\nCHAPTER I\nSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF ROBERT-EOUDIN\nR\nOBERT-HOUDIN was born in Blois, France;\nDecember 6th, 1805. His real name was\nJean-Eugene Robert, and his father was Prosper\nRobert, a watchmaker in moderate circum-\nstances.\nHis mother's maiden name was Marie Catherine\nGuillon. His first wife was Josephe Cecile Eglantine\nHoudin, whose family name he assumed for business rea-\nsons. He was married the second time to Fran\u00e7oise Mar-\nguerite Olympe Naconnier. His death, caused by pneu-\nmonia, occurred at St. Gervais, France, on June 13th, 1871.\nBarring the above facts, which were gleaned from\nthe register of the civil authorities of St. Gervais,\nall information regarding his life previous to his first\npublic appearance in 1844 must be drawn from his own\nworks, particularly from his autobigraphy, published in\nthe form of \"Memoirs.\" Because of his supreme egotism,\nhis obvious desire to make his autobiography picturesque\nand interesting rather than historically correct, and his\nutter indifference to dates, exact names of places, theatres,\nbooks, etc., it is extremely hard to present logical and con-\n3\n[33]"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 40, "folder": "", "text": "30\nTHE PRACTICAL MAGICIAN.\nand accurate manipulation, the astonishment at the result will\nbe infinitely greater than any one would imagine possible to be\nproduced by such simple means.\nThere is one help that I can suggest towards the better man-\nagement of the hands in concealing or removing objects; it is\nthe use of a conjuror's rod or short magic wand. This is, now-\na-days, commonly a stick of about fifteen inches long, resem-\nbling a common rule, or a partially-ornamented one. You may\noften have observed this simple emblem of the conjuror's power,\nand deemed it a mere idle or useless affectation. The conjuror\nwaves it mystically or majestically as he may be disposed. Of\ncourse you are right in your judgment that it can do no good\nmagically; but it does not follow that it is useless. The fact is,\nthat it is really of considerable service to him. If he wants to\nhold a coin or any object concealed in his hand, without others\nobserving the fact of his hand being closed, the wand in that\nhand is a blind for its concealment. He may require to pick up\nor lay down some object, and he can do so while openly fetching\nor laying down his wand. If he wants to gain time, for any il-\nlusion or process of change, he can obtain it while engaging the\nattention of the spectators by some fantastic movements of his\nwand. By the use of the wand, therefore, you will be able to\nprevent the observation of your audience too pointedly follow-\ning the movements which you wish to carry on secretly. You\nmay also, at the same time, dispel their attention by humorous\nremarks, preventing it from being concentrated on watching\nyour movements.\nAs a general rule, you must not apprise your audience of what\nyou are actually doing, but must often interpose some other\nthought or object to occupy their mind. For instance : Do you\ndesire that a person should not examine too closely any object\nwhich you place in his hand, tell him to hold it well above his\nhead. That takes it out of the range of his eyes. It would\nnever do to tell him not to look at it. He would then immedi-\nately suspect that you are afraid of something being observed.\nHave you perchance forgotten to bring on your table any ar-\nticle requisite for displaying any trick, a feint must be made"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 40, "folder": "", "text": "24\nLATEST MAGIC\nout any quickness at all. I will prove it to you by\nmeans of these two cards which have been chosen.\nPlease give me one of them. I don't mind which.\"\nWe will suppose that the card handed up is the\neight of hearts.\n\"Notice please what card this is; the eight of\nhearts. You can't possibly mistake it for any\nother card, can you? I will turn it down here on\nthe table. And now for the other card.\" (It is\nheld up that all may see it.) \"This one, you see,\nis the seven of spades. No mistake about that,\neither! I will lay that one here.\" The card is in\neach case laid upon the velvet-covered card of the\nopposite kind.\n\"Please don't forget which is which. There has\nbeen no quickness of the hand so far, has there ?\nNow I am going to make these two cards change\nplaces.\" (You touch each with the wand.)\n\"Presto, change!\" (Picking up the upper and\nlower cards exactly one upon the other you show\nwhat was a moment previously the eight of hearts,\nbut which now appears to be the seven of spades.)\n\"One card has changed, you see. And now for\nthe other.\" (You show the other pair after the\nsame fashion.) \"And here we have the eight of\nhearts. I will now order them to change back\nagain.\" You lay both pairs again face down.\n\"Now I again give the cards a touch with my\nwand, and say 'Right about! Change!' and now,\nyou see\" (showing the faces of the original cards),"}