{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 302, "folder": "", "text": "what is most extraordinary is that this water, which he\nthrew out with violence, appeared red like wine. And\nwhen he had discharged it into two different bottles, it\nwas red in one and russet like beer in the other; as soon\nas he shifted the bottles to the contrary sides, they changed\ntheir complexion respectively to that of wine or beer, and\nso successively so long as he continued vomiting; in the\nmean time, I observed that the water grew less discolored\nin proportion as he continued to discharge. This was the\nfirst act. Then he ranged his two dozen of bottles oppo-\nsite to him on a table, and exposed to everybody's view.\nThen he took an equal number of bottles, plunged them\nanew into the bucket, swallowed them too, and returned\n18\n[ 273 ]"}
{"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": 168, "folder": "", "text": "very names he had used\n-\nle\n-\n-\n-\npeter\n-\nof\n-\n-\n-\ntous\n-\n-\n-\nPART ASTER THE OVERTURE\nand the style of his billing.\nThe\n-\ndisplay of the - -\nThe Vases or Cups of Divination,\numo\nuses\nonta\nAll three of these men\nsan CARD. TH\" ama OF PARADIEL\nsuas .\nao wow warma\n.\nTHE MADIC PEDESTAL GIGANTIC DICE.\nwere professional magi-\nNOTUALLING OFFICE, or CANDLE COOKERY.\nCIRCASSIAN CANS. BUONAPARTES FEATHER,\nor\ncians before Robert-Hou-\nMagicien.\nFRENCH BOLL AND HANDKERCHIEF. MYSTERIOUS WALNUTS.\nOpere Glase - Carda. The Rose and Wedding Rang.\ndin appeared, and Ander-\nAst - \" - quete - - hore - -\ncquelled\nby\n-\nothee\nPerformee.\nPART IL-OTERTURE,\nson was his very active\nAller - Ms. JACOSA,\nTHI 5 LANDLORD AT HOME;\nOr, Gout and Hoarseness versus Family Grievances.\ncontemporary.\n-\n-\nhands\n-\n- -\n-\n-\n-\nA Jacobs bill is here\n1\n-\n-\n-\n=\n-\n-\n- - - 1\n- - - =\n-\n-\n-\n-\nreproduced, showing the\n-\nby\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\nlas\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\nthe\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\nde\nyear\n-\n-\n-\n-\nde\nthei\ncard trick featured among\n.\n-\nthe\n-\nthe\n-\nThe\n---\n-\n-\n-\n-\n.\na\nthe\ngh\n-\n-\n-\n-\nand\nleag\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\nThe\nFreach\n-\n-\n-\n-\nother attractions.\nThe\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\nbes\n-\nthe\n-\n-\na\n-\n-\n-\nthe\nand\n-\nde\n-\n-\n-\nlithograph of Jacobs used\nthe\nin this connection is an\n&\nthe\nactual likeness and I bc-\nJacobs poster, featuring \"The Travelling\nlieve it to be as rare as it\nCard.\"\nFrom the Harry Houdini Collec-\ntion.\nis timely.\n[ 151 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 313, "folder": "", "text": "under the robe of the magician, whose attitude favors\nthis concealment.\nAs the basket trick is the Hindoo magician's most\nwonderful offering, a truthful account of his methods of\nperforming the same may be interesting. In the first\nplace, Robert-Houdin's explanation is impossible and un-\nreasonable because the Hindoo magician does not wear\nflowing robes in which the child could be concealed.\nEvery Hindoo performer I have ever seen wore short\ntrousers and was barefooted.\nThe correct method of performing the trick, which has\nbeen handed down through generations of Hindoos, is as\nfollows: The boy subject is placed in a net in which\nhe is firmly tied, after having had his big toes and thumbs\nfastened down with bandages. Then, with many a grunt\nand a groan, he is lifted into the basket. The subject,\nhowever, pretends that the basket is too small, so he is\nreally seated on one side and keeps his back in the air.\nThis is done to give the appearance eventually that it\nwas impossible for him to crouch down or around the\nbasket. The lid of the basket is now placed on his back,\nand a large sheet is thrown over the entire apparatus,\nwhich conceals from the audience every movement made\nby the subject.\nNow commences the Hindoo \"patter,\" in reality yells,\ngroans, and incantations, while the magician and his\nassistant strike the basket with swords or canes, stamp\non the ground, gnash their teeth, etc. Gradually the\n[284]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 144, "folder": "", "text": "to play the drum, violin, and triangle.\nA contemporary of Henry was Charles, the great ven-\ntriloquist, who varied his performance as did all ventrilo-\nquists of his day, by presenting \"Philosophical and\nMechanical Experiments\" to make up a two-hour-and-a-\nhalf performance. Charles made several tours of the\nEnglish provinces, and played in London at intervals.\nOn a London programme which is undated, but which\nannounces M. Charles as playing at Mr. Wigley's Large\nRoom, Spring Gardens, the second automaton on his\nlist is described as \"The Russian Inn, out of which comes\na little Woman and brings the Liquor demanded for.\"\nTwo of his programmes dated Theatre Royal, Hull, April,\n1829, now in my collection, carry a pathetic foot-note\nwritten in the handwriting of the collector through whom\nthey came into my possession : \"The audiences on both\nthe evenings were extremely small, and the money was\nrefunded.\"\nBy referring to the chapter on the writing and drawing\nfigure, Chapter III, Page II3, a Schmidt programme of\n1827 will be found, in which he features \"The En-\n[127]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 65, "folder": "", "text": "tion the order of production will naturally be\nvaried accordingly.\nTHOSE NAUGHTY KNAVES\nThis item may be described, if preferred, as\n\"Knavish Tricks.\"\nRequirements. Card mat loaded with knaves of\nspades, hearts and diamonds, taken from the pack\nin use. Knave of clubs on top of pack."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 90, "folder": "", "text": "that I have not sought to influence the choice of\nthese gentlemen\" (or ladies, as the case may be)\n\"in the slightest degree, and it must be equally\nclear to you that I cannot possibly know even one\nof the cards that have been chosen. To make sure\nthat I do not get sight of them in any way, we will\nhave them placed, with the remainder of the pack,\nin this envelope.\" He collects the cards accord-\ningly, allowing each person who drew to replace\nhis cards himself in the envelope, and requesting\nthe last person to moisten the flap, and make all\nsecure.\nReturning to his table, he places the closed\nenvelope in full view. \"I shall now want the\nassistance of some gentleman. Thank you, sir."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 316, "folder": "", "text": "possibility, and no chance whatever, that it was either by\naccident or practised trickery to produce such wonderful\nmaterializations. Robert-Houdin, May 18th, 1847.'\nHe further shows his ignorance of s\u00e9ances as offered\nin his times, by his attempt to describe the methods em-\nployed by the Davenport Brothers, to whom he devotes\nchapter XIII., which might be described as a chapter of\nerrors.\nThese picturesque American entertainers, the Daven-\n[287]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 88, "folder": "", "text": "own composition, the leaves will begin to change and\nthe bouquet will produce natural flowers and various\nfruits.\"\nPinetti is one of the most fascinating and picturesque\nfigures in the history of magic. His full name was Joseph\nPinetti de Willedal, and, like Pinchbeck and Fawkes, he\nwas a man of parts and readily made friends with the\nnobility. In fact, there is some question as to whether\nhe did not come of a noble family.\nHe was born in 1750 in Orbitelle, a fortified town once\nclaimed by Tuscany. What can be gleaned regarding\nhis early history goes to prove that his family connections\nwere excellent and his education of the best. One of his\nportraits, reproduced herewith, shows a half-crown of\nlaurel decorating the frame, and on one side of the bust is\na globe, while in the rear of the picture is a stack of books.\nThis would establish his claim that he was once a professor\nof physics and geography. In fact, the legend beneath\nthe portrait, being translated from the French, runs:\n\"I. I. Pinetti Willedal de Merci, Professor and Dem-\nonstrator of Physics, Chevalier of the Order of St. Philipe,\nGeographical Engineer, Financial Counselor of H.R.H.\nPrince of Linbourg Holstein, Born in Orbitelle in 1750.\"\nAs it has so often happened in the history of savants\nand students, there ran in Pinetti's blood a love of the mys-\nterious with that peculiar strain of charalatanism which\nwent to make up the clever performer in old-time magic.\nEvidently he resigned his duties as a professor for the\nmore picturesque life of the travelling magician, and he is\nfirst heard from in this capacity in the French provinces\n[71]"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 100, "folder": "", "text": "or at a distance. Ample directions have been given how all this is\ndonc, but let it be understood that it is most essential. The stu-\ndent may then practice before a friend, and he will be astonished\nto find that he can deceive any listener, as to the point from which\nthe sound comes ; and will be gratified that he has become the\nsource of great amusement to himself as well as in the circle in\nwhich he moves.\nThus we have acquired a working power in the art which, we\ntrust, we have now explained to the satisfaction of the reader.\nThe progress of the student will, of course, be facilitated by an\ninherent propensity of mimicry, which often approaches some of\nthe minor attainments of ventriloquism. In every company some\nperson may be found who, without any professional instruction,\ncan give admirable limitations, of the voice, gait, and peculiarities\nof a frient or acquaintance; thus proving that Nature, to some\nextent, supplies the basis upon which, if we may use the phrase,"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 121, "folder": "", "text": "is a little shorter than A, and in diameter a trifle\nsmaller than B, which must pass easily over it.\nAttached to either side of its upper edge, outside,\nare soldered two little wire hooks, the points on the\noutside directed downwards.\n(4) A coil of paper ribbon, of such size as to fit\nclosely\ninto\nthe\nlower\nend\nof\nC,\nand\nforming,\nwhen\nA\nB\nc\nFig. 17\nso placed, a temporary bottom to it. The inner\nend of the coil must be drawn up an inch or so,\nso as to form a little cone in the centre.\n(5) A similar coil unwound into a loose mass\nof paper ribbon.\n(6) About three-quarters of a pint of haricot\nbeans. Of these a sufficient number must be"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 67, "folder": "", "text": "invention of second sight, suspension, and the writing and\ndrawing automaton. It is my intention to trace the true\nhistory of each of these tricks and of all others to which\nhe laid claim as inventor, and show just how small a\nproportion of the credit was due to Robert-Houdin and\nhow much he owed to magicians who preceded him\nand whose brain-work he claimed as his own.\n[50]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 183, "folder": "", "text": "inspection. The performer takes back the tram-\nway in the left hand, holding it by one end in such\nmanner that it is gripped in the fork of the thumb,\nleaving the thumb itself comparatively free. Tak-\ning back the ball with the right hand and remark-\ning \"Now to develop the force,\" he rubs it on his\nleft coat-sleeve, and strokes the surface of the tram-\nway two or three times with it.\n\"Having now established a proper degree of\n'oddity' between the tram and the crystal, I will\nask for the loan of a half-dollar (or florin as the\ncase may be) marked in any way the owner\npleases.\"\nHe replaces the ball on the table, and in the act\nof again turning to the audience gets hold of the\nwaxed disc and draws it away from the body, hold-\ning it clipped between the ends of the first and sec-\nond fingers, the left thumb pressing the thread\nagainst the cloth top of the tramway, and acting for\nthe time being (and indeed throughout the trick)\nas a brake neutralising at pleasure the pull of the\nweight.\nHe receives the coin on the tramway; then pick-\ning it up with the right hand, makes some obser-\nvation as to the mark, meanwhile pressing the\nwaxed side of the disc against it, then replacing it,\ndisc down, in the middle of the tramway."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 145, "folder": "", "text": "ing away farther from the table and moving about\nbehind it SO as to cause a gradual pull upon the\nthread; the effect being that the severed parts of\nFIG. 23\nthe pagoda mount gradually one upon another in\ndue order. It is probable that they will not rest\nexactly one upon the other. In any case the per-\nformer affects to notice that they do not. Making\na remark to that effect he steps close to the table\nto straighten them up, and under cover of so doing\ndraws with the finger nail the pin in the uppermost\nportion, thereby releasing the thread. Stepping\nback again, as though the better to judge whether\nthe pagoda is now \"plumb,\" he thereby draws"}
{"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": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 242, "folder": "", "text": "enormous poster which would be unintelligible if reduced\nto a size suitable for reproduction.\nIt is now a part of my collection and reads as follows:\n\"The Holland Maid, Twenty Years of Age, from Am-\nsterdam, whose powers, both in her residence there and\nin all other places to which she has gonc, have excited\nthe Formemance of the\nISTEOUS\nLADY.\n8 The peculiar acquirements and faculties of this highly Talented\nLady are almost beyond the reach of description. By some unknown\nand\nEXTRAORDINARY ENDOYMENT\nShe is enable. to declare the names of articles produced by the company,\nalthough aitting at a distance of 50 to 60 feet, with her face turned from\nthe audience? She will also divine the whispered wish ot any one.\nalthough satisfactorily out of hearing. She will also, describe the dress,\nornaments, &c. of any iudividual who may wish it, with an accuracy\ntruly surprising; upon a card being selected from a pack, she will\ndeclare its name; but as the performance varies and depends in a great\nmeasure on the pleasure of the company, no regular routine can be speci-\nSied, but of this the company may rest assured that every consistent\nstiort will be used to gratify and afford them satisfaction.\nReproduction of original billing matter used by the mysterious lady who\noffered second sight in the United States in 1841-42-43. From the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\ngreat astonishment and much applause, and she will\nalso in this place endeavor to obtain the same tribute\nof public applause. She will after the exhibition place\nherself before the eyes of all the spectators on the outside\nand gravely stand thereon and at all times give an answer\nof assurance to any one present to whom her judgment in\nall questions gives the most accurate response. She con-\ntrives also by her acuteness to discover and reply to the\n[ 215]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 203, "folder": "", "text": "card is to be found on pages 1, 3 and 6: the key num-\nber of these three pages being 1, 4 and 32: together\nmaking 37, and thirty-seven less twenty-six being\neleven, he knows that the card must be the eleventh\nof the third suit, otherwise the knave of spades.\nIf he is told that the card is on the third, fifth and\nsixth pages, the key numbers of which are 4, 16 and\n32, total 52, it is clear that the card must be the\nlast in the list, viz., the king of diamonds.\nSo much for the working of the trick. But the\nreader, if of an. enquiring mind, will naturally ask,\n\"How is this result obtained?' The answer rests\nupon a special property of the geometrical pro-\ngression which forms the six key numbers. It is\na curious fact that by the use of these six numbers,\neither singly or in combination with others of the\nseries, any number, from unity up to 63, can be\nexpressed. Thus, the numbers, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and\n32 we already have, these being numbers of the\nseries. As to other numbers:\n1 + 2 = 3\n4 + 1==\n4 + 2== 6\n4 + 2 + 1 =\n7\n8 + 1 = 9"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 115, "folder": "", "text": "and gentlemen, what a lot of hints I get from dif-\nferent people for the improvement of my enter-\ntainment. If I were to adopt them all, I have no"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 70, "folder": "", "text": "and\n-\nPinchester\nChristopher Pinchbeck, Sr. This is the oldest and rarest authentic mezzotint in the\nworld pertaining to the history of magic. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n[ 53"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 146, "folder": "", "text": "acquaintance of Jules de Rovere, the first to employ a\ntitle now generally given to fashionable conjurers.\"\nAnd after Rovere, Phillippe, who is by far the most\nimportant presenter of the Pastry Cook of the Palais\nRoyal, as bearing upon Robert-Houdin's claims.\nFor Phillippe's early history we must depend largely\nupon Robert-Houdin's \"Memoirs.\" According to these,\nPhillippe started life as a confectioner or maker of sweets,\nand his real name was Phillippe Talon. According to\nan article published in L'Illusionniste in January, 1902,\nhe was born in Alias, near N\u00eemes, December 25th, 1802,\nand died in Bokhara, Turkey, June 27th, 1878.\nLike many a genius and successful man, his early\nhistory was written in a minor key. According to Robert-\nHoudin his sweets did not catch the Parisian fancy, and\nhe went to London, where at that time French bonbons\nwere in high favor. But for some reason he failed in\n9\n[129]"}
{"path": "practicalmagicia00harr.pdf", "page": 108, "folder": "", "text": "a\nNEW AND INDISPENSABIE MANUALS.\n\"THE 'MAGNET' HAND-BOOKS.\"\nThese books are the very best ever issued upon the varions subjects of which they\ntreat. Each volume is complete and perfect, and thoroughly practical. Each\nbook contains 100 pages large 12mo., well printed and bound in handsome illumi-\nnated covers. PRICE TWENTY-FIV. CENTS EACH.\nPARLOR PASTIMES\nor, THE WHOLE ART OF AMUSING, for public or private entertainments. An en-\ntirely new work by the celebrated Professor RAYMOND, on MAGIC. CONJURING, LE-\nGERDEMAIN, and PRESTIDIGITATION. It is a complete expos\u00e9 of the Wizard's Art.\nNo trick or illusion of importance is left unnoticed, and the instructions and ex-\nplanations are so simpleand exhaustive that a child could perform them. This\nbook thoroughly elucidates and explains all the mysteries and wonders associated\nwith all kinds of magic and occultso ence. Ittells,how to make, operate and\nper-\nform\nwith\nCoins\nCards,\nFire\nworks,\nMechanical\nDevices\nand\nMagnetic\nContrivan-\nces. The book also contains alarge collection of RIDDLES, CONUNDRUMS, CHARADES,\nENIGMAS, REBUSSES, PUZZLES, ACROSTICS, TRANSPOSITIONS, ANAGRAMS, PARADOXES,\nAND PROBLEMS. A study of thisinteresting work would make any one thoroughly\nexpertin amusing either a public or private audience. Price 25 Cents.\nHOW TO WRITE A LETTER.\nA complete letter writer for ladies and gentlemen. This book is not a collection\nof letters and examples, as is generally the case with all Complete Letter Wri-\nters\" now in use, but is a book which actually tells how to write a letter upon any\nsubject out of the writer's \"own head.\" It gives much very necessary informa-\ntion relating to Punctuation, Spelling, Grammiar, Writing for the Press, Legal Im-\nportance of Letters, Love, Courtship and Marriage. It also contains the Art of\nRapid Writing, by the abbreviation of longhand and a DICTIONARY OF ABBREVIA-\nTIONS. This book is worth its weightin gold to all. No one can fail to be bene-\nfited by some of the information it contains. It contains all the points and fea-\ntures that are iu other Letter-Writers, with very much that is new, original and\nvery important, and which cannot be got in any other book. Price 25 Cents.\nTHE AMERICAN BOOK OF GENTEEL BE-\nHAVIOR.\nA complete handbook of modern etiquette for ladies and gentlemen. A perusal\nof this work will enable every one to rub off the rough husks of ill-breeding and\nneglected education, and substitute for them gentlemanly ease, and graceful, lady-\nlike deportment, (as the case nay be), so that their presence will be sought for,\nand they will not only learn that greatart of being thoroughly at home in all socie-\nties, but will have the rarer gift of making everybody around them feel easy, con-\ntented and happy. This work is fully up to the requir\u00e9ments of the times ; it\ndescribes the etiquette of our very best society.\nGet at once this greatest Hand-Book of Modern Etiquette.-Price 25 Cents.\nPERSONAL BEAUTY;\nOr the whole art of attaining bodily vigor, physical developement, beauty of fea-\nture and symmetry of form. with the science of Dressing with Taste, Elegance and\nare here offered that will enable them to overcome these defects, and to become\nEconomy. To those to whom Nature has been sparing in its gifts, suggestions\nbeautiful, elegant and graceful, and to be admired and sotight after by the oppo-\nsite ex.-Illustrated.- - Price 25 Cents.\nCopies of the above books sent to any part of the world on receipt of price.\nAddress HURST & CO., Publishers, 75 Nassau St., New York."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 37, "folder": "", "text": "[OE]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 61, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT?\n45\nthe other hand, the trick is well worth the trouble\nneeded to master it, for if the spectators are con-\nvinced (as, given perfect execution, they should\nbe) that it is really the borrowed coin which trav-\nels about as it appears to do, nothing short of gen-\nuine magic will furnish an adequate explanation.\nThe performer is of course by no means bound\nto adopt the mise en scene above suggested. If\npreferred, the patter might be based on a supposed\nplot between the two knaves to rob the queen, the\ncoin representing the stolen property, secretly\npassed from the one to the other when either was\naccused of the theft. The story might conclude\nwith an appeal by the queen to a benevolent\nmagician, through whose good offices her property\nis brought back to its original position, and in due\ncourse restored to her. The touch of the mystic\nwand would naturally play an important part in\neffecting the restoration."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 59, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT?\n43\n\"I do this,\" he explains, \"in order to drive out\nall adverse magnetisms, and to substitute my own.\nI will now put the coin in full view on the table\nand cover it with a card. See that I do SO fairly.\"\nAfter laying down the coin he takes the top card\nof the pack, and with it, unknown to the specta-\ntors, the overlay beneath it, and lowers them on to\nthe coin.\n\"Notice particularly, please, where I have\nplaced the coin, and notice too that I do not touch\nit again. I will now place two more cards, one on\neach side of the first one.\" He does so, letting the\nspectators see clearly that there is nothing in the\nhand save the card itself, and then slowly lowering\nit exactly on to one of the two overlays on the\ntable. \"Now I make a few magnetic passes over\nthe cards, so.\" He waves his wand backwards and\nforwards above the cards, at a few inches' distance.\n\"And now, where is the coin? Still under the\nmiddle card, you would say You are mistaken.\"\nHe lifts that card lengthwise, leaving the overlay\ncovering the coin; then replacing the card. \"Itis\nno longer there, you see. In point of fact it has\npassed under this card.\"\nHe lifts one of the side cards breadthwise, the\noverlay coming with it, and exposes the coin\nbeneath it. \"Here it is, you see. We will try\nonce more.\" He replaces the card and then shows,\nin like manner, that the coin has passed to the\ncard on the opposite side. After one or two trans-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 55, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT?\n39\nThe coin may be identified by the owner in the\ncourse of the trick, as well as at its close.\nThe requirements for the trick are as follows:\n1. The velvet mat.\n2. A pack of cards, arranged as presently to\nbe explained.\n3. Three overlays (see p. 20), each consisting, in\nthe present instance, of a court card, backed with\nvelvet of similar tint and texture to that with\nwhich the mat is covered. Three of the edges of\neach card are blackened, but the fourth (one of its\nshorter sides) is left white, and thickened by the\ninsertion of an extra slip of white card along that\nend. The effect of this is that, as the card lies\non the mat, its white edge is visible from that side,\nbut from no other position.\n4. Three cards, corresponding with the three\noverlays, which we will suppose to represent the\nqueen of clubs, and the knaves of spades and dia-\nmonds respectively. The queen is wholly unpre-\npared, but each of the two knaves has a point of\nfine wire, or a black bristle projecting a sixteenth\nof an inch or so, midway from each of its sides.\nThe \"queen\" overlay is furnished with similar\npoints, the object of these being to enable the per-\nformer the more easily to lift a given card with or\nwithout its duplicate overlay.\nIn preparing for the trick the two \"knave\"\noverlays, each covering a shilling, are laid before-\nhand on the mat, velvet side up, eight or ten inches"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 57, "folder": "", "text": "WHERE IS IT ?\nII\nto the performer, but not to the company, serving\nas guides to exact position. When the performer\ndesires to show that the coin is not under a given\ncard, he raises the card only, lifting it lengthwise,\nand leaving the coin covered by the overlay.\nWhen he desires to exhibit a coin, he picks up the\ncard covering it breadthwise between finger and\nthumb and with it the overlay beneath it.\nFig. 12\nThe introductory patter may run as follows:\n\"You have all heard, no doubt, of what is called\nthe thimblerig trick, frequently exhibited at fairs\nand on race-courses. Some of you gentlemen may\neven have parted with a little money over it. For\nthe benefit of the ladies I will explain what it is.\n\"The operator has before him on a small board\nor tray three thimbles, or half walnut-shells. He\nexhibits a small pea, or a pellet the size of a pea,\nwhich he affectionately calls the 'joker.' This he"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 3, "folder": "", "text": "UNITED\nSTERARIES"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 239, "folder": "", "text": "UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF\nHis Most Gracious Majesty WILLIAMIV.\nThe\nWonderfal\nDOUBLE\"\nSIGHTED\nPhaeno-\nmenon:\nYoung Master M 'KEAN,\nSince his arrival in London, has had the honor of performing\n(on Friday, Dec. 23rd. 1831,) before their\nMaster M'KEAN, only . Years old!\nONK\nor\nMost Gracious Majesties & Prince George.\nGREATEST PRODIGIES of the Age\nHis Grace the Duke of Argyle.\nHas just returned from the Pavilion at Brighton:\nHis Grace the Duke of Gordon.\nTowhich plare be lad de heaer of a Sperial Conmand, aud is again exhibiting his mest\nHis Grace the Bruke of St. Albans and Duchess.\nAt the Egyptian Hall Bazaar, Piccadilly.\nHer Grace the Dachess of Nortbumberland.\nThe Rt. Hon. the Earl of Coventry.\nIn addition to his performance before thair MASESTIES and their Court, this\nThe Rt. Hon. the Earl of Errol.\nextraordinary Child, siace his arrisal in Town, has had the bonor to exhibit his sur-\nprising talent before several of the Nobility of the highest rank, wheee admiration and\nThe Rt. Hon. the Earl of Bellast.\nastoniehment have heen uniformly expresaed in the strongest terma.\nThe Rt. Hon. the Earl and Countess of Morley.\nThe fuculty which be possesses has defied the research of all the Medical men, by\nwhom he has been seen-a faculty. which enables him to distingruish colour, read either\nThe Rt. Hon the Countess of Essex.\nprint or manuscript, tell the hour of the day on a watch, or declare any other fact as pra-\nThe Rt. Hon. Lord Adolphus Fitzelarence\nmisely R$ the cleverest sighted person, although his eyes are at the time, completely\nThe Rt. Hon. Lord Augustus Fitzelarence.\nblindfolded, and his back turned to the object of examination.\nAnning other aurprising performances, may be mentimed the fallowing\nThe Rt. Hon. the Viscountess Faulkland.\nHe will read in English, Latin, French, or Italian. Any one present may insert\nThe Rt. Hon. Lord and Lady Dever\nnames or figures ad libitum, and he will instantly presounce the same, and tell the\nSir Edward, Sir Arthur Berkeley, & Lady Paget.\nname of esch figure separately, and their value together. A piece, or pieces of money,\nkeys, er trinkets of any description may be produced by any of the company, and be\nAdmiral Sir Manly Dixon.\nwill instantly tell how many there -whother componed of\nAdmiral Lukin.\nGold, Silver, Brass, or Copper?\nAdmiral Daker.\nThe date and valire of the Coins, and describe every other article very minutely, avee\nahould there appear a spot upon them. He will also describe the drese of any person,\nAnd many others of the Nobility of the United Kingdon.\nand in what pesdition they ait of stand. MASTER MOKEAN will ask the fawor of any\nLady or Gendlemas in the company to apeak softly within themaelves, ao that they\n**\nmay not be heard by those who ait on the right or left, and he will instantly repeat\nThe HIGHLAND YOUTH's Figure is erect, his Features\nthem, althongh at ene hundred yards' distance. Should there be 100 Watchen produ-\nend, and each differently set, be will tell the hours and minutos indicated by each, and\nparticularly handsome, and of bis age considered re-\nparform many other Frate, which must be seen to be credited\nmarkably tall.-He daily gives increasing satisfaction\nHours af Enhibillos are 11, 1, 3, and A. Admissura, la. 6d. halj-price.\nto the most distinguished characters.\nthe Parties may have . Prieste . deu - the 6 s'cluck in the \"\nTho\n05"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 44, "folder": "", "text": "To=bay, Thursbay, July 3, 1845,\nfirst Representation\nOF\nThe fantastic Goirces\nOF\nRobert-Toubin,\nAutomata, Sleight-of-Hand, Magic.\nThe Performance will be composed of entirely\nnovel Experiments invented by\nM. ROBERT-HOUDIN,\nAmong them being :\nThe Cabalistic Clock\nObedient Cards\nAuriol and Debureau\nThe Miraculous Fish\nThe Orange-Tree\nThe Fascinating Owl\nThe Mysterious Boquet\nThe Pastrycook of the\nPierrot in the Egg\nPalais Royal\nTo Commence at Cight o'clocli.\nopen at balf:past beurn.\nPrice of Places: Upper Boxes, I fr. 50 C.; Stalls, 3 fr.;\nBoxes, 4 fr.; Dress Circle, 5 fr.\nProgramme for the opening of Robert-Houdin's theatre in Paris. Repro-\nduced from the American edition of his *Memoirs.\"\n[ 37]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 139, "folder": "", "text": "The original Gyngell, a portrait reproduced from the book on magie written by this famous\nBartholomew Fair conjurer. From the Harry Houdini Collection."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 221, "folder": "", "text": "The original Compars Herrmann, who was Robert-Houdin's very active\nrival during the latter's first engagement in London. Best portrait now in\nexistence, and only one showing Herrmann in his prime. Original photograph\nloaned for this work by James L. Kernan. of Baltimore, Md., U. S. A.\n[194]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 120, "folder": "", "text": "The OPTICAL PART of the EXHIBITION\nWill PHANTOM or AUTARITIONS of the DEAD or ABSENT, in a way more complestely illufive than has ever been offered\nto\nthe\nEyc\n`public Theatre, as the Objects freely originate in the Air, and unfold themfelves under various Forms and Sizes, fuch as\nhas hitherto painted them, occafionally affuming the Figure and moit perfea Refemblance of the Heroes and other diflin-\nguifhed of paft and prefent Times.\nThis SPECTROLOGY, which profelles to expofe the Pra\u00f1ices of artful Impoftors and pretended Exorcifts, and to open the Eyes of thofe\nwho abfurd Belief in Grosts or DISEMSODIED Spraiti, will, it is prefumed, afford allo to the Speclator ao interefting and\npleafing and in order to render thefe Apparations more interefting. they will be introduced during the Progrefs of a tremendous\nThunder Storm, accompanied with vivid Lightning, Hail, Wind, &c.\nThe MECHANICAL PIECES of ART\nInclude the following principal Objeat, a auere detailed Account of whith will be given during their Exhibition: vis.\nTwo elegant ROPE DANCERS, the one, reprefenting a Spaniard nearly Six Feet high, will difplay feveral Monifhing Feats on the Rope,\nmark the Time of the Mulic with a fmall Whiftle, fmoke his Pipe, &c.-The other, called Pajanzo, being the Figure of a young\nfprightly\nBoy.\nwill furpafs the former in Skill apd Agility.\nThe INGENIOUS SELF-DEFENDING CHEST-The fuperior Excellence and Utility of this Piece of Mechanifm i., that the Proprietor\nhas always Safe-guard againft Depredators; for the concealed Battery of Four Pieces of Artillery only appears and difcharges itfelf when\na\nStranger tries to force open the Chett--This has been ackmowledged by feveral Profeftional Men tp be a of Machanifu, and may with\nequal Advantage be applied to the Protection of Property in Counting-houfes, Poft-Chaifes, &c.\n'The MECHANICAL PEACOCK, which fo exaCily imitates the Actions of that ftately Bird, that it has frequently been thought Alive. It\neats, drinks, &c. at command, unfold its Tail in a beilliant Circle, and in every refpeat feems endowed with an intuitive Power of attending to\nthe Thoughts of the Company.\nThe BEAUTIFUL COSSACK, enclosed in a (mall Box, apens it when ordered, and pecfents herfelf to the Spectators in a black Habit\nwhich, as foon as defired, the changes with aftonifhing Quick lefs into a moit Elegant Gala Dre\u00eds, compliments the Company, and dances\nafter the Manner of the Coffacks; the will alfo refolve different Queftions. Sc. G.\nThe SELF-IMPELLED WINDMILL. which is put in Motion, or fands All by the moit momentary Signal from- the Spectators, and in \u00e0\nManner which apparently does away the Ides of all Mechanical Agency.\nThe whole to conclude with a fuperb OPTICAL and MECH\u00c1NICAL FIRE-WORK, replete with a Variety of brilliant and fanciful)\nChanges.\n\u00b01\u00b0 Doors to be opened at SEVEN 'Clock, the Commencement at EIGHT,\nBOXES, 4s.-PIT, 2S.\nYOUNG, Printes Er ses Sireet, Covent Garden.\nA de Philipsthal programme of 1803 before the writing and drawing figure came under his control.\nFrom the Harry Houdini Collection."}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 123, "folder": "", "text": "The Conve\nThe be TU\nde Polite\nthe\nOpens \u00e9very ant de\nPerformasca\n41 Jour passa em pegins at (glu\nHESE Arch admitred Pieces of Mechanisan,\nwhied not hunian trat\nto posses\u00e9 al consile of\n4 Figure, a hoy ef tom\nbe brom - and apt to\nseurd\na round,\nThe Modalai ed\nlowing the Perter,\ngate and an - - thir Dour\napem, the and auy a Geb\nToy whaterier Vroit they and det\nasal bring the Rhid\nbe\n- the as often as Lie\nampo\nDE\na\n- valled for, / the are drompa un) and\nbe given in charge to a Warch Dog, in\nand en any pegson away or tenching\nthem witt begin (o-bark, and contique to do so they\nare The Thent Figarre to thes Re\nthe which WH be\nfrombelind the Home, will enter the Door, the\nChiningy, and giva the of -\nreveral timesy the and corrie wirk\nin Bag firti of\nThe LIQUOR MERCHANT und WATER SERVERI\nTheie are on a Platform of bet square, which\n(as the former Pi\u00e9ces) will be placed on a Table, The\nLiguor Mercliaut stands nt DE small Cask, from which a\nwill drivie every kind of Spiras, Wine, &c.\nThe a and\nTumbler with Water, - enlied for. -Fourth,\nTHE. RIGHLANI\nA Figute in the Dess, stands on a Time-guere\nand Hour wnd Mrouter whewey by SIPIN\nbig its on/a Trege: a Answer\n(by motion) to\n(n Aridimetic, and gives the jaistantly as any\nof Pounds, Yards, Ac, any given Price: beats\nTime to Muic, &c.\nSTable the different Places with Demplaced on, con-\ntains an ORGAN, on which the Proprietor intradaces n.\nlew) Notes: also, The MACHINE\nORGAN, will play occasionally Neveral Pleces of Music,\nAirs Country Dances, Re.\nMr.HADDOCK flattere himself THE ANDROIDES\nwill be found niore exizious than any\n\u00e9ver before offered to this Principtes of\nentituly The Theatre is seatis, fired\nand every thing calculated to MA e to -\npolite and discerning Audience\nHoses 4s. Gaflery -\nAdmittance, after the Two Half Price,\nThe lass netoly Two\nHaddock advertisement in the London Telegraph, January, 1796, in which\nhe features the writing automaton as an androide. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\n[ 106]"}
{"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": "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": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 69, "folder": "", "text": "THOSE NAUGHTY KNAVES\n53\nBut we have not yet done with our trick. You\nmay resume as follows:\n\"I will give you a further illustration of what I\nhave to put up with from the knaves. I should\nlike you to be satisfied that I have nothing to do\nC\nFIG. 13\nwith their bad behaviour.\" (You palm off the\nthree top cards, and with the same hand offer the\nfour knaves to a spectator. \"Will you, sir, make\nsure that these really are the four knaves, and then\nplace them here on the top of the pack,\"-offered"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 67, "folder": "", "text": "THOSE NAUGHTY KNAVES\n51\nMajesty had the misfortune to develop a mole upon\nher nose, and King Cole was worried about it. He\nconsulted Old Moore and Zadkiel, and all the lead-\ning astrologers of the day, but all they could tell\nhim was\n'A mole upon the face\nShows that something will take place,\nBut not what that something will be.'\nThat's just my case. My prophetic thumb merely\ntells me that something is wrong, but doesn't say\nwhat. It may be drains, or the house on fire, or\nsomething in the county court. You never can\ntell!\n\"Of course it's nothing of that sort now. In\nthe present case it has no doubt something to do\nwith the experiment I want to show you. You\nchose your card quite freely, did you not, Madam?\nIt never matters to me in the least what card is\nchosen, with the exception of one particular card,\nwhich is a holy terror. May I ask if you happened\nto draw the knave of clubs ? Yes ? I feared as\nmuch. The knave of clubs is the bane of my life.\nHe is always endeavouring to get himself chosen,\nand then he does his best to upset my arrange-\nments. And the worst of it is, he leads away the\nother three knaves. The four of them form a\nsecret society, which they call \"The cheerful black-\nguards.' The knave of clubs is the president, and\nthe rest have to do just as he tells them. He com-"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 6, "folder": "", "text": "THF UNMANKING\nROBER"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 102, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nwhich, he adds, in some miraculous fashion, resembled\nhimself. This resemblance, however, cannot be traced\nin existing cuts of the figure.\nThe chapter devoted to this particular automaton is\nso diverting that I quote literally from its pages, thus\ngiving my readers an opportunity to take the true measure\nof the writer and the literary style of his \"Memoirs.\"\nHere is his description of his moment of triumph:\n\"I had only to press a spring in order to enjoy the\nlong-waited-for result. My heart beat violently, and\nthough I was alone I trembled at the mere thought of\nthis imposing trial. I had just laid the first sheet of\npaper before my writer and asked him this question\n:\n'Who is the author of your being?' I pressed the spring,\nand the clockwork started-began acting. I dared hardly\nbreathe through fear of disturbing the operations. The\nautomaton bowed to me, and I could not refrain from\nsmiling on it as on my own son. But when I saw the eyes\nfix an attentive glance on the paper-when the arm, a\nfew seconds before numb and lifeless, began to move\nand trace my signature in a firm hand-the tears started\nin my eyes and I fervently thanked Heaven for granting\nme success. And it was not alone the satisfaction I ex-\nperienced as an inventor, but the certainty I had of\nbeing able to restore some degree of comfort to my\nfamily, that caused my deep feeling of gratitude.\n\"After making my Sosia repeat my signature a thou-\nsand times, I gave it this question: 'What o'clock is it?'\nThe automaton, acting in obedience to the clock, wrote,\n'It is two in the morning.' This was a timely warning.\nI profited by it and went straight to bed.\"\n[85]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 118, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nthe most natural manner imaginable. Upon the whole,\nthe united collection strikes us as the most wonderful\nexertion of art which ever \"frod before so close on the\nheels of nature. The ingeniou; artist is a young man,\na native of Switzerland.\"\nThe inventory of Jacquet-Droz, Tr.; dated 1786,\nquotes the \"Piano Player\" as valued at 4,800 livres, the\n\"Drawing Figure\" at 7,200 livres, while the\nhad been ceded to him by his father for 4, 800- liyres, in\nconsideration of certain improvements and modifications\nwhich Henri-Louis Jacquet-Droz made in the original\ninvention. This shows that while the elder Droz did not\ndie until 1790, his son controlled the automata previous\nto this date, for exhibition and other purposes.\nDuring his later years Henri-Louis Jacquet-Droz was\ninduced to take the automata to Spain. His tour was\nunder the direction of an English manager, who, possibly\nfor the purpose of securing greater advertisement, an-\nnounced the figures as possessed of supernatural power.\nThis brought them under the ban of the Inquisition, and\nJacquet-Droz was thrown into prison. Eventually he\nmanaged to secure his freedom, and, breathing free air\nonce more, like the proverbial Arab, he silently folded\nhis tent and stole away, leaving the automata to their\nfate. Henri-Louis-Jacquet-Droz died in Naples, Italy, in\n1791, a year after his father's death.\nThe English manager, however, tarried in Spain.\nThe figures were \"tried\" and as they proved motionless\nthe case was dropped. The Englishman then claimed the\nautomata as his property and sold them to a French\nnobleman. Their owner did not know how to operate\n[ IOI ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 112, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nthe mint at Paris and a mechanician of rare talent. Jean\nPierre Droz is credited with having invented a machine\nfor cutting, stamping, and embossing medals on the face\nand on the edges at one insertion.\nThe output of this shop and its staff of gifted workers\nincluded the first Swiss music\nbox, the singing birds which\nsprang from watches and jewel\ncaskets, the drawing figure\nwhich was an improvement on\nthe writing figure, the spinet\nplayer, and the grotto with\nits many automatic animals of\ndiminutive size but exquis-\nite workmanship. Years were\nJean-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Leschot.\nBorn 1747, died 1824. Por-\nspent in perfecting the various\ntrait published by Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des\nArts de Gen\u00e8ve. Presented to\nautomata, and none of them\nthe author by Mons. Blind\n(Magicus) of Geneva.\nhave been equalled or even\napproached by later mechanicians and inventors.\nHenri-Louis Jacquet-Droz was conceded to be the supe-\nrior of his father, Pierre Jacquet-Droz. In a German en-\ncyclopaedia which I found at the King's Library, Munich,\nit is stated that when Vaucanson, celebrated as the in-\nventor of \"The Flute Player,\" \"The Mechanical Duck,\"\n\"The Talking Machine,\" etc., saw the work of the\nyounger Droz, he cried loudly, \"Why, that boy com-\nmences where I left off!\"\nAccording to the brochure issued by the Society\nof History and Archaology, Canton of Neuch\u00e2tel,\nand an article contributed by Dr. Alfred Gradenwits\nto The Scientific American of June 22d, 1907, the\n95 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 108, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nthe bill used at the time of its appearance in London,\nEngland.\nWhen Barnum was in London in 1844, with Gen. Tom\nThumb, who was then performing at the Egyptian Hall,\nhe first saw the automatic talking machine and engaged\nit to strengthen his show. Thirty years later Prof.\nFaber's nephew was the lecturer who explained to the\nAmerican public the automaton's mechanism and also\nthe performer who manipulated the machine.\nBarnum always speaks of the talking automaton as\nbeing a life-size figure, but the pictures used for adver-\ntising purposes show that it was only a head.\nThe fate of both the talking automaton and the writing\nand drawing figure is shrouded in mystery. If they were\nin the Barnum Museum when the latter was swept by\nfire in 1865, they were destroyed. If they had been taken\nback to Europe, they may now be lying in some cellar or\nloft, moth-eaten and dust-covered, ignominious end for\nsuch ingenious brain-work and handicraft.\nSo much for the claims of Robert-Houdin. Now to\ndisprove them.\nThe earliest record of a writing figure I have found is\nin the \"Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines,\"\ncompiled by Andrew Ure, M.D., and published in New\nYork in 1842 by Le Roy Sunderland, 126 Fulton Street.\nOn page 83, under the heading of \"Automaton,\" is this\nstatement:\n\"Frederick Von Knauss completed a writing machine\nat Vienna in the year 1760. It is now in the model cabinet\nof the Polytechnic Institute, and consists of a globe two\nfeet in diameter, containing the mechanism, upon which\n[ 91 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 104, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nthe Dutch inventor, who was unquestionably Robert-\nHoudin's assistant for years.\nIn 1844 he claims to have borrowed the writing and\ndrawing figure from the obliging Monsieur G-\nto\nexhibit it at the Quinquennial Exposition, where it\nattracted the attention of Louis Philippe and his court,\nthus insuring its exhibitor the silver medal.\nAt this point Robert-Houdin deliberately drops the\nwriting and drawing figure, leaving his readers to believe\nthat it was returned to its rightful owner, Monsieur G\n,\nbut, unfortunately for his claims, another historian steps\nin here to cast reflections on Monsieur G- owner-\nship of the figure. This writer is the world's greatest\nshowman, the late P. T. Barnum, who purchased the\nfigure at this same exposition of 1844, paying for it a\ngoodly sum, and this incident is one of the significant\nomissions of the Robert-Houdin \"Memoirs.\" Either\nRobert-Houdin sold the figure to Mr. Barnum for Mon-\nsieur G\n, or such a person as Monsieur G\nnever\nexisted, for in his own book Mr. Barnum writes:\n\"When I was abroad in 1844 I went to Paris expressly\nto attend the \"Quinquennial Exposition'-a exhibition\nthen held every five years. I met and became well ac-\nquainted with a celebrated conjurer, as he called himself,\nRobert-Houdin, but who was not only a prestidigitateur\nand legerdemain performer, but a mechanic of absolute\ngenius. I bought at the exposition the best automaton he\nexhibited and for which he obtained a gold medal. I\npaid a round price for this most ingenious little figure,\nwhich was an automaton writer and artist. It sat on a\nsmall table, pencil in hand; and, if asked, for instance,\n[87]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 126, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\ntasmagoria.\" The nature of the inventions grouped under\nthis title can best be judged from the reproduction of a\nDe Philipsthal programme, dated 1803-04, and reproduced\nin the course of this chapter. All evidence goes to prove,\nhowever, that De Philipsthal did not control the writing\nand drawing figure exclusively, but that it was the joint\nproperty of himself and his partner, Maillardet. One\nof their joint programmes is also reproduced. Wherever\nDe Philipsthal appears as an independent entertainer,\nthe writing and drawing figure is missing from his billing.\nLater the writing and drawing automaton came into\nthe possession of a Mr. Louis, who, as it will be seen from\nthe billing, acted as assistant engineer to De Philipsthal\nand Maillardet. Louis evidently controlled the wonderful\nlittle automaton in the years 1814-15.\nThe last De Philipsthal programme in my possession is\ndated Summer Theatre, Hull, September 15th, 16th, 17th,\n18th and 19th, 1828, when he advertises only \"rope dancers\nand mechanical peacock,\" and features \"special uniting fire\nand water\" and \"firework experiments.\" He must have\ndied between that date and April, 1829, for a programme\ndated at the latter time announces a benefit at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre\nWakefield for the widow and children of De Philipsthal,\n\"the late proprietor of the Royal Mechanical and Optical\nMuseum.\" This benefit programme contains no allusion\nto the writing and drawing figure, which goes to prove\nthat it had not been his property, or it would have been\nhanded down to his estate.\nIn May, 1826, an automaton was exhibited at 161\nStrand, a bill regarding which is reproduced. This\nmechanical figure, however, should not be confounded\n[ 109 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 114, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nstance, to write a T, the writer begins tracing the\nletter at the top, and after slightly lifting his hand half-\nway, swiftly traces the transversal dash, and continues\nwriting the original ground stroke.\n\"How complicated a mechanism is required for insur-\ning these effects will be inferred from the illustration, in\nwhich the automaton is shown with its back opened.\nIn the first place a vertical disk will be noticed having\nat its circumference as many notches as there are letters\nand signs. Behind this will be seen whole columns of\ncam-wheels, each of a special shape, placed one above\nanother, and all together forming a sort of spinal column\nfor the automaton.\n\"Whenever the little writer is to write a given letter,\na pawl is introduced into the corresponding notch of the\ndisk, thus lifting the wheel column and transmitting to the\nhand, by the aid of a complicated lever system and Cardan\njoints arranged in the elbow, the requisite movements for\ntracing the letter in question. The mechanism comprises\nfive centres of motion connected together by chains.\n\"In the 'Draftsman,' the mechanism is likewise ar-\nranged in the body itself, as in the case of the 'Writer.'\nThe broad chest thus entailed also required a large head,\nwhich accounts for the somewhat bulky appearance of\nthe two automatons. With the paper in position and a\npencil in hand, the 'Draftsman' at first traces a few\ndashes and then swiftly marks the shadows, and a dog\nappears on the paper. The little artist knowingly ex-\namines his work, and after blowing away the dust and\nputting in a few last touches, stops a moment and then\nquickly signs, 'Mon Toutou' (My pet dog). The motions\n7\n[ 97 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 116, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nof the automaton are quite natural, and the outlines of\nhis drawings extremely sharp. The automaton when\ndesired willingly draws certain crowned heads now be-\nlonging to history; for example, a portrait of Louis XV.,\nof Louis XVI., and of Marie Antoinette.\"\nThe automata made by the Jacquet-Drozes and their\nconfr\u00e8res were exhibited in all the large cities of Great\nthe Greas Koom, No. 6, King.\nCovent Carlen, to be This Day,\nSPECTACLE MECHANIQU\nWECHANICAL EXHIBITION, From\n7776\nin this Exhibition it rivaled by Atts ons\nwritri whatever le di\u00e9tated to it, another drawsg\nand finillics in a maiterly Mannir feveral curious De-\nagna; mother plays divers Ain on the Herplichord,\nThere is alfo a Pafforal S ene, in which is introdued\n* great Number of Figures; the Trees and\nbear Fruit, the Sheep bleat, the Dog barks, and the\nBinde fing: lo diffinety imitation Nature that\nthey exceed every Ascount that ean be given of thera,\nnot anly for the Variety but for the of their\ndifferent Operations. Their Mechanifm every\nThing that has ever appeared, infomuch that it may\nbe faid they will \u00cdpeak for themfelves.\nThe Tidte of viewing it will be from Twelve to\nOue, from One to Two, from Two to Three, and la\nthe Evenin4 from Seven to Eight, from ight to Nine,\nand from Nine to Tea.\nMr. JAQUET DROZ, the Iaventor, will attend\nen Eleven at Niglit, in ofder to accom hodale thoft\nLadian or Gentle that may chule to lee this Exhi-\nbirth after the Hour of Ten.\nAdmiftance Five\nconunted every Day, and\nClipping from the London Post, 1776, advertising the writing and drawing\nfigures, exhibited by their inventor, Mr. Jacquet-Droz. From the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nBritain and Continental Europe. According to the pro-\ngrammes and newspaper notices in my collection, Henri-\nLouis Jacquet-Droz acted as their first exhibitor. As\nproof I am reproducing a Droz programme from the\nLondon Post, dated 1776.\n[99]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 106, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nformances, and by his pressing invitation I frequently\nwas present. He took great pains, too, to introduce me\nto other inventors and exhibitors of moving figures,\nwhich I liberally purchased, making them prominent\nfeatures in the attractions of the American Museum.\"\nBarnum then continued to describe Robert-Houdin's\ngreatness and his cleverness in the use of electricity.\nThe showman was always a welcome guest at the magi-\ncian's house, and he relates how, at luncheon time,\nThe figure of Cupid as executed by the Droz drawing figure. From the\nbrochure issued by the Society of History and Archacology, Canton of Neu-\nchatel, Switzerland.\nRobert-Houdin would touch a knob and through the\nfloor would rise a table, laden with inviting viands. These\ndetails in the Barnum book make it all the more inex-\nplicable that Robert-Houdin should omit all mention of\nthe great showman's name in his \"Memoirs.\"\nJust at this time the amusement-seeking public\nseemed greatly interested in automata, so it was only\nnatural that Barnum, great showman that he was, should\nscour Europe for mechanical figures. Soon after he\npurchased the writing and drawing figure claimed by\n[89]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 110, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nfigure which also inscribed a few set phrases or titles of\nthe drawings. In mechanism, appearance, and results\nit tallies almost exactly with the automaton claimed by\nRobert-Houdin as originating in his brain. The Jacquet-\nDroz figure showed a child clad in quaint, flowing gar-\nments, seated at a desk. The Robert-Houdin figure\nwas modernized, and showed a court youth in knee\nbreeches and powdered peruque, seated at a desk. The\nJacquet-Droz figure drew a dog, a cupid, and the heads\nof reigning monarchs. The Robert-Houdin figure, made\nseventy-five years later, by some inexplicable coincidence\ndrew a dog as the symbol of fidelity, a cupid as the em-\nblem of love, and the heads of reigning monarchs.\nThe history of the Jacquet-Drozes is written in the\nannals of Switzerland as well as the equally reputable\nannals of scientific inventions, and cannot be refuted.\nPierre Jacquet-Droz was born July 28th, 1721, in a\nsmall village, La-Chaux-de-Fonds, near Neuch\u00e2tel, Switz-\nerland. According to some authorities, his father was\na clock-maker, but the brochure issued by \"Soci\u00e9t\u00e9\nd'Histoire et l'Arch\u00e9ologie\" of the city of Neuch\u00e2tel, which\nhas recently acquired many of the Jacquet-Droz auto-\nmata, states that he was the son of a farmer and was sent\nto a theological seminary at Basle. Here the youth's\nnatural talent for mechanics overbalanced his interest\nin \"isms\" and \"ologies,\" and he spent every spare\nmoment at work with his tools. On his return to his\nnative town he turned his attention seriously to clock-\nand watch-making, constructing a marvellous clock with\ntwo peculiar hands which, in passing each other, touched\nthe dial and rewound the clock.\n[ 93 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 132, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\ndid not know of its existence and mechanism. And if\nRobert-Houdin had invented the same mechanism it is\nhardly possible that his design would have run in pre-\ncisely the same channel as that of Jacquet-Droz and\nMaillardet, in having the figure draw the dog, the cupid,\nand the heads of monarchs.\nIn those days humble mechanicians, however well they\nwere known in their own trade, were not exploited by\nthe public press. Nor did they employ clever journalists\nto write memoirs lauding their achievements. And so\nit happened that for years the names of Jacquet-Droz\nand Maillardet were unsung; their brainwork and handi-\ncraft were claimed by Robert-Houdin, who had mastered\nthe art of self-exploitation. To-day, after a century and\na half of neglect, the laurel wreath has been lifted from\nthe brow of Robert-Houdin, where it never should have\nbeen placed, and has been laid on the graves of the real\ninventors of the writing and drawing figure, Pierre\nJacquet-Droz and Henri-Louis Jacquet-Droz and Jean-\nDavid Maillardet.\n[115]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 128, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nchair before an easel, ready to draw portraits in short\norder. The figure was shown to the audience, then re-\nplaced on the chair, whereupon a man under the platform\nthe Triump of Mechanisu.\nNEW . EXHIBITION\nIN THE WESTERN EXCHANGE.\nTHE\nAUTO.MATON\nARTIST.\nIL ENTRANCES TO THE EXHIBITION\nARE IN\nOld Bond Street & in Burlington Arcade :\nOpen from Ten o'Clock till Dusk.\nAdmittance to see the Performance, 1 Shilling.\nProfile Likenesses, 18. 6d. in addition.\no\nThe Proprieters conceive that an Automatical Figure, accurately effect\ning that whuch has bitherto required a powerful ment. exertion, and a\ncorrect eye, needs no further introduction of its extraordiuary quality, than\nao intimation of the fact, that it is\nTHE ONLY AUTOMATON\nIN THE WORLD\nTHAT TAKES LIKENESSES.\nWithout further comment, the Proprietors merely add the information, that-\nthis Figure exerutes a Profile Likeness, sue one minute, from any person who\nchooses to Nt. The Automaton will, if required, take the Profiles of Busts\nof Public Characters, which are placed in the Roum, and which will enable.\npersons, who may doubt the possibility of apy mechanical contrivance taking\nan accurate likeness, to compare thein with the originals.\nInncs, Printer, 61, Wella-s. Oxford-st.\nHandbill advertising the fake automatic artist, exhibited also at 161 Strand,\nLondon, May 7th, 1826. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\nwould thrust his arm through the figure and draw all that\nwas required of the automaton. The fake was short-lived,\neven at the yearly fairs, and now has sunk too low for them.\n[ III ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 122, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nSo far we have traced only the original writing and\ndrawing figure. This has been done purely to show\nthat even if Robert-Houdin had been capable of building\nsuch an automaton, he would not have been its real in-\nventor, but would merely have copied the marvellous\nwork of the Jacquet-Drozes. Now to trace the figure\nwhich in 1844 he claimed as his invention.\nWith the fame of the Neuch\u00e2tel shop spreading and\nthe demand for Swiss watches increasing, Maillardet and\nJean Pierre Droz, apprentices or perhaps partners of\nPierre Jacquet-Droz and Henri-Louis Jacquet-Droz,\nremoved to London and there set up a watch factory.\nAbout this time Maillardet invented a combination\nwriting and drawing figure which was pronounced by\nexperts of the day slightly inferior to the work of the two\nJacquet-Drozes. However, it must have been worthy\nof exhibition, for it appeared at intervals for the next\nfifty years in the amusement world, particularly in Lon-\ndon. At first Maillardet was not its exhibitor nor was his\nname ever mentioned on the programmes and newspaper\nnotices, but later his name appeared as part owner and ex-\nhibitor. As the Swiss watches had created a veritable sen-\nsation and were snatched up as fast as produced, it is quite\nlikely that he had no time to play the r\u00f4le of showman.\nThe figure first appeared in London in 1796, when the\nLondon Telegraph of January 2nd carried the adver-\ntisement reproduced on the next page.\nHaddock had no particular standing in the world of\nmagic, and it is more than likely that he rented the auto-\nmata which he exhibited, or merely acted as showman\nfor the real inventors.\n[ 105 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 130, "folder": "", "text": "THE WRITING AND DRAWING FIGURE\nADMISSION REDUCED,\nBores, 2..-Pil, la.-Gallery, 6d.\nPORNING ons SEILLING sacm.\nBy Permission of the Right Worshipful the Mayor.\nThe Nebility, Gentry, and Inhabitaste of Hull and its Vicinity are most respoctiolly\ninformed that the Grand\nMECHANICAL AND\nMagical Theatre,\n(FROM THE GOTHIC HALL, ITAYMARKET, LONDOX.)\nIS NOW OPEN EVERY DAY AND EVENING,\nAND witl. CONTINUS ao voa A SMORT TIMS ONLY,\nATT THE APOLLO SALOON,\nNexty erected by Mr. Kirhwood, at the y Wellinglon-Strees,\nQUEEN-STREST, NULL.\nTHE AUTOMATA COMPRISE THS FOLLOWING AUBJECTS:\nThe Juvenile Artist!\nWhese in DRAWING and warmino (alterestely) ie the presence of the Compeay, defy all essempte\nregard thew beauts sed of dealge ... -\nthe\nof\nan\nYeare )\nTHE MUSICAL LADY,\nde performe agee - siegses Seger OROAN, of plessing Airs. The of her -\n- of the .... feit \" arearing Aderrent She bows gracefully to the Audieses, hee\n\"\n- the leago, sele . predess\u00e9 b, the of ber Segen, esta the escoptee of Sele -\n- - played 3, the fost\nDawona,\n- serpase, is sed ever, Prefesses of the ant hooping\ncorrest to the Nome of the\nTHE MAGICIAN,\nthe selovest ... delight. b, the eages be reteres to every\npregess\u00e9 le - The of the bitherle pussied all the first. reste \u00e0\nTAS\nWALKING FIGURE,\nmoriag b, Ite see eseltee ise serpeise, It ever Assn Deje to . thing etterly\n- cort to predese \u00e9gare expeble a\nA MAGNIFICENT CLASSIC rase!\nNADE FOR THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.\nA BOLDES\nTWO SIBERIAN MICE.---AN EGYPTIAN LIZARD.\nAn Ethiopian Caterpillar. A Tarantula Spider.\nA BEAUTIFUL HUMMING BIRD:\n- - of T.es e.ebly - ... sed other precion asd le the\n4 sevemests eftea dessivo the bebeider\nno - de , the of -\nBELF-ACTING PIANO FORTE.\nTES STAGE PERFORMANCE WILL COMMENCE WITH\nRAMO SAMMEE,\nLitte Figere - corrent'y estera \" the time \", .. pereese eill also weipher -\nalso - the of ea, bee bese drees *** - pech.\nThe Enchanted Dutch Coffee-House,\n,\n- - . the Trevellers visging the SeM the doos opres-the attesde .. pree.dee enth -\nbe may - ler.\nTHE CABINET OF SAFETY,\nde - of eas . - be . the of the the conteste will ebsage\nA\ndesees\nsele\nesther,\n\"\nbeb.ed\nthe\nBAGRO\n,\n. Conto - - the gech sed - therete \" , - planed the Marg and will immediately appees\nvhee\ncalled\nfar.\nThe Bottle of Sobriety and Juebriety,\nProving the restality de of Densatera, Lizem ... be procesed b, ....\ntas NAGICAL TC4 cadore,\ndes - \" Article, tocke ... . the other # le\nthere,\n.\nthe\nDead\n...\nother\nAN KTRAORDINARY GLASS PILLAR,\n- -\nEXPERIMENTS IN ELECTRICITY.\nThe Englich whe will ducharge \" Camon sithout the see of ,\nAn entettaining Experiment with Two Electrical Vases;\nThe gower 4 ever the Vegressie hingdem. prefecing a Crop of Balled le before\nthe cyse of -\nTHE UNFORTUNATE MAGAZINE,\n- \" - - le - of the Thessor Cleed ent ... we ate - ns\nof - .... , \" bet the -\n- des the condector - mere sived, - the\n- le - aget of -\n'rogramme used by Mr. Schmidt in 1827, when he had possession of the\nwriting and drawing figure. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\n8\n[ 113]"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 207, "folder": "", "text": "THE WIZARD'S POCKETBOOK\n191\nto call attention by name to the cards exposed, and\nsay, \"When these three cards appear in conjunc-\ntion, it is clear that the card drawn was the queen\nof spades\" (or whatever it may happen to be).\nAny one deluded, as the majority will probably be,\ninto believing that you really infer the name of the\ndrawn card from those on the table, will be farther\nfrom the real solution than ever."}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 205, "folder": "", "text": "THE WIZARD'S POCKETBOOK\n189\ning on the same page, their appearing under these\nconditions making no difference to the calculation.\nI am indebted to an ingenious amateur, Mr.\nVictor Farrelly, for the idea of a novel method of\nusing the pocket-book. Mr. Farrelly does not\noffer of his own accord to show what can be done\nwith it, but keeps it in reserve, for use in a special\nemergency. Every conjurer meets now and then\nwith the pig-headed person who absolutely declines\nto have a given card forced upon him, and persists\nin endeavouring to extract one from some other\npart of the pack. Armed with the pocket-book, the\nperformer can set such a person at defiance, and\nindeed get additional kudos from his objectionable\nbehaviour.\nHe cheerfully gives up the struggle, saying\"You\nseem to think, sir, that I wish to influence your\nchoice in some way. To prove the contrary, I give\nthe pack into your own hands. Shuffle it well.\nThank you. Now take from it any card you please.\nLook at it, and put it in your pocket. You are\nsatisfied, I presume, that I do not know that card?\nYou are quite right. I have not the smallest idea\nof it, but I shall discover it without the smallest\ndifficulty by a process of mathematical magic. I\nhave here\" (producing pocket-book) \"a little book\nof six pages, on each of which thirty-six cards are\nillustrated. Will you kindly see whether the card\nyou chose is represented among those on the first\npage? Meanwhile I will divide the pack, which"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 201, "folder": "", "text": "THE WIZARD'S POCKETBOOK\n185\n43. Four of diamonds.\n48. Nine of diamonds.\n44. Five of diamonds.\n49. Ten of diamonds.\n45. Six of diamonds.\n50. Knave of diamonds.\n46. Seven of diamonds.\n51. Queen of diamonds.\n47. Eight of diamonds.\n52. King of diamonds.\nThe arrangement of the table being once under-\nstood, the number associated with any given card\nin the club suit suggests itself automatically, e.g.,\nthe seven of clubs is likewise No. 7 in the list. To\nascertain the name of the card corresponding to\nany of the higher numbers, all that is needed is to\nsubtract from that number 13, or such higher mul-\ntiple of thirteen as the case will admit, and the\ndifference will represent its position in its own\nsuit.\nSuppose, for instance, that the performer desires\nto know what card answers to the number 20.\nDeducting thirteen from 20, the remainder, 7, tells\nhim that the card is the seventh (i.e. the seven)\nof the second suit, viz., hearts. If he wants to\nknow the name of No. 29, he deducts 26, when the\nremainder, 3, tells him that the card is the three of\nthe third suit, spades. If the card be No. 40, the\nnumber to be deducted will be 39, and the\nremainder, 1, tells him that the card is the first\nof the fourth suit, viz., the ace of diamonds. After\na very few trials, this little exercise in mental\narithmetic becomes so familiar that the calculation\nbecomes practically instantaneous.\nGoing a step further; with each of the six pages"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 199, "folder": "", "text": "THE WIZARD'S POCKETBOOK\n183\n0\nFig. 41\nP\n8\nFig. 42"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 197, "folder": "", "text": "THE WIZARD'S POCKETBOOK\n181\n8\n8\na\n8\ns\n0\nFIG. 37\nV\n8\na\na\nFig. 38"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 219, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\nCLOSELY connected with the subject of patter is\nthe use of the wand, which in my own opinion can-\nnot be too sedulously cultivated. To the cases in\nwhich the wand itself forms the prominent item\nof the trick, I devoted a special chapter in \"Later\nMagic.\" To these therefore I need not further\nrefer. More important, however, is the part\nplayed by the wand from the point of view of gen-\neral utility.\nIn the first place, it is the only remnant of the\ntraditional outfit of the magician. Time was,\nwhen the regulation costume of the wizard was a\nsugarloaf hat, and a robe embroidered with highly\ncoloured mystic symbols. Such a robe is still worn\nas part of their make-up, by Chung Ling Soo and\na few other Orientals, but the orthodox costume of\nthe latter-day wizard is ordinary evening dress.\nThe wand alone remains; the symbol and the pro-\nfessed instrument of his mystic powers, and from\nits traditional connection with magic, there is a\nspecial prestige attached to it.\nFor these reasons alone it would be desirable to\nretain the use of the wand, but apart from them,\nits practical uses are many and various. One of\n203"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 229, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n213\nhoist him up and drop him in the water-butt, or\ninto the Red Sea, according to order. If the\nmagician wanted a week at the seaside, he had no\nneed to pay railway fare. The familiar would just\npick him up, house and all, and land him gently in\nthe middle of the mixed bathing. The only draw-\nback was that, sooner or later, a time came when\nthere was no performance, because the magician\nhad been carried off by his familiar on a pitchfork.\n\"As the French say, nous avons chang\u00e9 tout\ncela, Familiars are as extinct as the dodo. Per-\nhaps it's as well, but it makes it very much harder\nto be a magician. In the first place you must know\nall about astrology, anthropology, Egyptology and\nall the other ologies. You must be well posted in\nmathematics, hydrostatics, pneumatics and numis-\nmatics. You must know all about clairvoyance,\npalmistry and thought reading, sympathy and\nantipathy, magnetism, mesmerism, wireless teleg-\nraphy, X rays and all the other kinds of rays.\nOf course you must be well up in Greek and Latin,\nand a little. Hebrew, not to mention a few other\nthings which I forget for the moment, but I won't\nstop to think of them now. When you have stud-\nied these little matters fourteen hours a day for\nnine or ten years, you will be as 'chock-full of\nscience' as old Sol Gills himself, and you will be\nable to do all sorts of wonderful things, some of\nwhich I hope to show you this evening.\n\"Before I begin, there is just one little matter"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 227, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n211\nHis skill in sleight-of-hand, which he had in the\nfirst instance taken up merely as a pastime, proved\nto be of immense service to him in his desert wan-\nderings; adding not only to his popularity but fre-\nquently gaining for him the prestige of a genuine\nmagician, and thereby increasing his influence.\nIn 1871 he was appointed to the professorship of\nOriental languages at Cambridge, his official title\nbeing the Lord High Almoner's Reader of Arabic.\nIn 1882, in anticipation of the Arabi trouble in\nEgypt, he was entrusted by the then Government\nwith the difficult and dangerous task of winning\nover the Sinaitic tribes, and preventing the threat-\nened destruction of the Suez Canal.\nHis first trip, extending from Gaza to Suez, was\ncarried out successfully, but on penetrating farther\ninto the desert, he and his two companions, Captain\nGill, R.E., and Lieutenant Charrington, R.N.,\nfell into the hands of a tribe to whom Palmer was\nunknown, and were barbarously put to death.\nHappily, their bodies were recovered, and received\nfrom the nation the posthumous honour of burial\nin St. Paul's Cathedral.\nThe wand presented to me by Professor Palmer\nis a curiosity in many ways. It is made of acacia\nwood (the \"shittim\" wood of the Old Testament)\nbrought by Palmer himself from Mount Lebanon.\nAround it, in spiral form, is inscribed an invoca-\ntion from the Koran, in Arabic characters. The\nwriting of the inscription is a genuine work of art,"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 225, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n209\nportions of one-while walking-sticks, promoted to\na nobler use. Mr. J. N. Maskelyne's \"wand\" is\nan ordinary file, which, from the inventor point of\nview, he regards as the greatest of wonder-work-\ning appliances.\nMy own contribution may claim to be of excep-\ntional interest, not merely as being in itself a curio,\nbut as a memento of a very remarkable man, SO\nremarkable, indeed, that a brief notice of his career\nmay be interesting. It was presented to me by\nProfessor Palmer, a gentleman who was not, like\nmyself, a bogus professor, but the real thing, and\nwithal an exceptionally eminent man. Skill in\nsleight-of-hand was the least of his accomplish-\nments. He had a marvellous gift of tongue, there\nbeing scarcely a European or Oriental language\nwith which he was not thoroughly familiar. He\nwas born at. Cambridge in 1840, and from his\nearliest years showed indications of his peculiar\ngift for acquiring languages. As a school-boy he\nmade friends among the gipsies, and learned to\nspeak their queer language so perfectly as to\ndeceive even those to whom it was their native\ntongue. In later life it was a favourite joke of his\nto saunter, in company with his equally accom-\nplished friend, Leland, into some gipsy encamp-\nment where they were not known, and after pay-\ning their footing by having their fortunes told,\nto ask some of the nomads gathered round the fire,\nto talk a little Rommany for their benefit. Gip-"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 223, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n207\neven though he be a Past Grand Everything, knows\nno more than the veriest outsider.\nWhen in this direction there were no more mys-\nteries left for him to conquer, Dr. Ellison natur-\nally turned his attention to Magic: and in accord-\nance with his habitual determination to know all\nthat there is to be known with regard to his hobby\nfor the time being he began to collect books upon\nthe subject. At first there were but few to collect,\nbut the literature of magic has grown, and grown,\nand side by side with its advance Dr. Ellison's col-\nlection has grown larger and larger till it numbers\nsome hundreds of volumes. Harry Kellar, the\ndean of American magicians, and himself an\nenthusiastic collector, yearned to possess it, and\noffered the doctor for it the handsome sum of two\nthousand dollars, equivalent in English money to\nabout four hundred pounds. But Dr. Ellison was\nnot to be tempted. In order that the collection\nshould be preserved intact, he donated it, some\nyears ago, to the New York Public Library, also\nproviding a fund for its upkeep and further devel-\nopment.\nBut Dr. Ellison's interest in, and services to\nMagic did not end here. He has made a collection\nof models, entirely the work of his own hands, of\nthe appliances for over sixty stage illusions.\nSome are of full size, others quite miniature\naffairs, but one and all exact to scale. Further, the\ndoctor has a special affection for souvenirs of"}
{"path": "latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf", "page": 221, "folder": "", "text": "THE USE OF THE WAND\n205\nproduced. There is much virtue in what may be\ncalled a magical atmosphere, and after the wizard\nhas proved his magical power by performing two\nor three apparent impossibilities, the mind of the\nspectator (though in his calmer moments, he\nknows, or should know, better), is led to adopt in a\ngreater or less degree the solution \"forced\" upon\nhim by the conjurer. Habitual use of the wand,\nwith apparent seriousness, goes far to create the\ndesired atmosphere.\nA good effect may be produced by \"electrifying\"\nthe wand now and then, by rubbing it with a hand-\nkerchief. The main uses of electricity are so\nwidely known, and so little understood by the mil-\nlion, that they are quite ready to give it credit for\nstill more marvellous possibilities.\nMy friend Mr. Holt Schooling, mentioned in\nconnection with The Secret of the Pyramids, finds\nan additional use for the wand. He uses, not one\nonly, but half a dozen, of different appearance, each\ncredited with some special magical virtue. At the\noutset of his show these are arranged horizontally,\none above another on pins projecting from a small\nsloping blackboard. For each fresh trick the\nwand professedly appropriate to it is brought into\naction, the one last used being at the same time\nreplaced on the stand. The spectators do not sus-\npect that behind each top corner of the board is a\nsmall servante, enabling the performer, under\ncover of the change of wands, to change a pack of"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 63, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERTT-HOUDIN\ntime only as astronomical, for showing the various\nmotions and phenomena of planets and fixed stars.'\nMention is also made of musical automata in imitation of\nsinging birds and barrel organs for churches, as among\nPinchbeck's manufactures.\n\"Pinchbeck was in the habit of exhibiting collections\nof his automata at fairs, sometimes in conjunction with a\njuggler named Fawkes, and he entitled his stall \"The\nTemple of the Muses,' 'Grand Theatre of the Muses,\nor 'Multum in Parvo.' The Daily Journal of August\n27th, 1729, announced that the Prince and Princess of\nWales went to the Bartholomew Fair to see hisexhibition,\nand there were brief advertisements in The Daily Post of\nJune 1 2th, 1729, and the Daily Journal of August 22d\nand 23d, I729. There is still a large broadside in the\nBritish Museum (1850 C. 10-17) headed 'Multum in\nParvo,' relating to Pinchbeck's exhibition, with a blank\nleft for place and date, evidently intended for use as a\nposter. Ile died November 18th, 1732; was buried No:\nvember 2ist, in St. Denison's Church, Fleet Street.\n\"In a copy of the Gentlemen's Magasine, printed 1732\npage 1083, there is an engraved portrait by I. Faber,\nafter a painting by Isaac Wood, a reproduction of which\nappears in 'Britten's Clock and Watch Maker,' page I22.\nHis will, dated November roth, 1732, was proved in\nLondon on November 18th.\"\nDuring one of his engagements at the Bartholomew\nFair, Pinchbeck probably met Fawkes, the cleverest\nsleight-of-hand performer that magic has ever known,\nand the two joined forces. Pinchbeck made all the auto-\nmata and apparatus thereafter used by Fawkes, and, in\n[56]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 263, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-IIOUDIN\nIXTRADREIMARY MEW\nRECEPING\nIN\nTHE\nAIR\nCORDENSED\n\" 'Suspension Chloriforcene,' as presented be Anderson and his son, from a\nlithograph used by him on his return from the Continent, December, 1848.\nFrom the Harry lloudini Collection.\n[234]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 267, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIX\nIn 1904 I paid the old master a second visit. To his\nprofessions of pleasure at meeting me once more, he\nadded the gift of several rare programmes now in my col-\nAlexander Heimburger, a veteran conjurer who presented the suspension\ntrick in 1845-46 during his American tour. From a photograph in the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nlection, and when our hands met in a farewell clasp he told\nme that he had set all things in order and was ready for\nthe coming of the Grim Reaper. Soon after that visit,\n[ 238]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 101, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN 1\nwho immediately agreed to advance two thousand five\nhundred francs, and if the figure was completed in eight-\neen months, two thousand five hundred francs more were\nto be paid for it, making five thousand francs in all. If\nthe figure was never completed, then Monsieur G\nwas\nWriting and drawing figure claimed by Robert-Houdin as his invention.\nFrom Manning's Robert-Houdin brochure.\nto reimburse himself for the amount advanced by select-\ning automatic toys from Robert-Houdin's regular stock.\nAfter liquidating his debt, Robert-Houdin retired to\nBelleville, a suburb of Paris, where for eighteen months\nhe worked upon the figure, seeing his family only twice a\nweek, and living in the most frugal fashion.\nHe employed a wood-carver to make the head, but the\nresult was so unsatisfactory that in the end he was\nobliged, not only to make all the complicated machinery\nwhich operated the figure, but to carve the head itself,\n[84]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 113, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwriting and drawing figures are made and operated\nas follows:\n\"The writer represented a child of about four years\nof age, sitting at his little table, patiently waiting with\nthe pen in his hand\nuntil the clockwork\nis started. He then\nsets to work and,\nafter looking at the\nsheet of paper before\nhim, lifts his hand\nand moves it toward\nthe ink-stand, in\nwhich he dips the\npen. The little fel-\nlow then throws off\nan excess of ink and\nslowly and calmly,\nlike an industrious\nchild, begins writing\non the paper the\nprescribed sentence.\nHis handwriting is\ncareful, conscien-\nThe Jacquet-Droz writing automaton.\nFrom the brochure issued by the Society of\ntiously distinguishing\nHistory and Archaology, Canton of Neu-\nch\u00e2tel, Switzerland.\nbetween hair strokes\nand ground strokes,\nalways observing the proper intervals between letters\nand words and generally showing the sober and de-\ntermined character of the handwriting usual at the\ntime in the country of Neuch\u00e2tel. In order, for in-\n[96]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 183, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwill be displayed, under the direction of Sieur Castinia,\njust arrived from Naples, the like never attempted before\nin this metropolis.\"\nThere is every reason to believe that Katterfelto, the\ngreatest of bombastic conjurers, used the electrical clock\nin his performances, as he made a feature of the various\nlate discoveries, and in his programme of 1782 he adver-\ntises \"feats and experiments in Magnetical, Electrical, Op-\ntical, Chymical, Philosophical, Mathematical, etc., etc.\"\nAmong implements and instruments or articles men-\ntioned I found Watches, Caskets, Dice, Cards, Mechan-\nical Clocks, Pyramidical Glasses, etc., etc.\nGyngell, Sr., the celebrated Bartholomew Fair conjurer,\nwhose career started about 1788, had on his early pro-\ngrammes, \"A Pedestal Clock, so singularly constructed\nthat it is obedient to the word of command.\" On the\nsame programme (Catherine Street Theatre, London, Feb-\nruary 15th, 1816) I find \"The Russian Inn,\" \"The Con-\nfectioner's Shop,\" and \"The Automaton Rope Vaulter.\"\nThis programme is reproduced in full in Chapter IV.\nWithout devoting further space to Robert-Houdin's\nabsurd claim to having invented this clock, we will\nproceed to discuss his claims to the automaton rope\nwalker, which he called a trapeze performer.\nThe Trapeze Automaton\nThough \"Diavolo Antonio\" or \"Le Voltigeur Trapeze\"\nwas not a simple trick, but a cleverly constructed au-\ntomaton, worked by a concealed confederate, it was a com-\nmon feature on programmes long before Robert-Houdin\n[ 166 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 193, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwill be displayed, under the direction of Sieur Castinia,\njust arrived from Naples, the like never attempted before\nin this metropolis.\"\nThere is every reason to believe that Katterfelto, the\ngreatest of bombastic conjurers, used the electrical clock\nin his performances, as he made a feature of the various\nlate discoveries, and in his programme of 1782 he adver-\ntises \"feats and experiments in Magnetical, Electrical, Op-\ntical, Chymical, Philosophical, Mathematical, etc., etc.\"\nAmong implements and instruments or articles men-\ntioned I found Watches, Caskets, Dice, Cards, Mechan-\nical Clocks, Pyramidical Glasses, etc., etc.\nGyngell, Sr., the celebrated Bartholomew Fair conjurer,\nwhose career started about 1788, had on his early pro-\ngrammes, \"A Pedestal Clock, so singularly constructed\nthat it is obedient to the word of command.\" On the\nsame programme (Catherine Street Theatre, London, Feb-\nruary 15th, 1816) I find \"The Russian Inn,\" \"The Con-\nfectioner's Shop,\" and \"The Automaton Rope Vaulter.\"\nThis programme is reproduced in full in Chapter IV.\nWithout devoting further space to Robert-Houdin's\nabsurd claim to having invented this clock, we will\nproceed to discuss his claims to the automaton rope\nwalker, which he called a trapeze performer.\nThe Trapeze Automaton\nThough \"Diavolo Antonio\" or \"Le Voltigeur Trapeze\"\nwas not a simple trick, but a cleverly constructed au-\ntomaton, worked by a concealed confederate, it was a com-\nmon feature on programmes long before Robert-Houdin\n[ 166 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 315, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwhich is a cross between the whistle of a locomotive with\na cold, and a sawed-off and hammered-down flute in\nwhich has been inserted a tin whistle. As this nerve-\nracking music holds the spectators under its awful spell,\nthe basket begins to rock, the contortionist-subject grad-\nually raises himself inside the basket, and when the noise\nis at its height he straightens up in the basket and raises\nit with his back as far as it will go. To the uninitiated it\nactually appears as if he had returned to an empty basket\nin his original position. The trick is a marvellous decep-\ntion, but only a Hindoo can exhibit it with success, for\nno white person would ever indulge in the screechings,\nimbecilities, and contortions which are the spectacular\nand convincing features of the trick.\nSometimes the trick is varied. Instead of the subject\nbeing found in his original position he is seen running\ntoward the crowd as from a distance. This is accom-\nplished by having two subjects, one in the basket and one\nhidden on the outskirts of the crowd, who are \"doubles\"\nor at least who show a marked resemblance and are\ndressed exactly alike.\nThe earliest programmes of Hindoo jugglers in my col-\nlection are dated 1818. The \"Mr. Ramosamee\" featured\non this bill later split his name thus, \"Ramo Samee,\"\nand was engaged to perform alone between the acts of\n\"The Broken Heart\" at the Garrick Theatre, London.\nFrom Ramo Samee, Continental and British magicians\nlearned the trick of juggling brass balls.\nOn page 135 Professor Hoffmann, in a foot-note, com-\nmends Robert-Houdin for the very impartial manner in\nwhich he approaches the question of spiritualism and\n[286]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 85, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwhich bore fruit in a minute's time was still on his pro-\ngramme.\nFor many years it was supposed that only one portrait\nof Fawkes was in existence, but it now seems that three\nwere made. I publish them all, something which no one\nhas ever before been able to do. One was taken from\na Setchels fan published about 1728, although some\nReproduction of page 1996 of Hone's \"Every-Day Book\" in the Harry\nHoudini Collection. This is a portrait of Fawkes, engraved on a fan by\nSetchels in 1721 or 1728. Fans like these were distributed at the Bartholomew\nFair.\nauthorities say I72I. It appeared in Hone's \"Every-\nDay Book,\" page 1226. Another, I believe, was en-\ngraved by Sutton Nicols, as Hone mentions it in his\ndescription of Fawkes. In the fan engraving, it will be\nnoticed that there appears a man wearing a star on his\n[68]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 93, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwhich are to catch the figures of the flowers and fruit\nwhen the latter expand by the air driven through the\nbranches to which they were fastened by a silk thread.\n\"The tree or nosegay is then placed on a table, through\nDecremer\nwhich runs a glass tube to supply\nair from beneath the stage, where\na confederate works this end of\n\"\nthe trick, and causes the tree to\n'grow' at the prearranged sig-\nnal.\"\nDecremps's signature writ-\nten by himself on the last\nLater it was described as being\npage of a copy of his book\nnow in the Harry Houdini\naccomplished entirely by springs,\nLibrary.\nand real oranges were first stuck\non the tree by means of pegs or\npins, and the leaves were so secured around them that at\nfirst appearance they could not be seen. Then a piston\nwas used to spread all the leaves, another that forced\nthe blossom up through the hollow branches, etc.\nPinetti's personality was almost` as extraordinary as\nhis talents. A handsome man who knew how to carry\nhimself, acquiring the graces and the dress of the nobility,\nhe became rather haughty, if not arrogant, in his bearing.\nHe so antagonized his contemporaries in the fields of\nmagic and literature that he was advertised as much by\nhis bitter enemies as by his loving friends. Many of his\nmethods of attracting attention to himself were singularly\nlike those employed by modern press agents of theatrical\nstars. He never trusted to his performances in theatres\nand drawing-rooms to advertise his abilities, but demon-\nstrated his art wherever he appeared, from barber-shops\nto caf\u00e9s.\n[76]\n-"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 327, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nwas one of Anderson's cleverest imitators and a rival of\nRobert-Houdin in the English provinces.\nThe adroit manner in which Robert-Houdin flays\nPinetti, Anderson, and Bosco would arouse admiration\nwere his pen-lashings devoted to men who deserved such\ntreatment. Under existing circumstances-his debt to\nBosco and Pinetti, whose tricks he filched remorselessly,\nand the fact that Andersoi.'s popularity outlived his own\nin England-his efforts to belittle these men are unworthy\nof one who called himself a man and a master magician.\nThe truly great and successful man rises above petty\njealousy and personalities. This, Robert-Houdin could\nnot do, even when he sat pen in hand, in retirement, with\nthe fear of competition removed.\nIt seems almost incredible that Robert-Houdin should\nignore Henri Robin in his \"Memoirs,\" for Robin was one\nof the most interesting characters of that day. He still\nstands in magic's history as the Chesterfield of conjuring,\na man of many gifts, charming address, and broad edu-\ncation. Even in his dispute with Robert-Houdin regard-\ning the invention of the inexhaustible bottle, he never\nforgot his dignity, but proved his case by that most potent\nof arguments, a well-edited magazine published under his\ndirection, in which an illustration showed him actually\nperforming the trick in 1844, or a full three years before\nit appeared on Robert-Houdin's programme.\nRobert-Houdin was indebted to Robin for another\ntrick, the Garde Fran\u00e7aise, introduced by Robert-Houdin\nin October, 1847. Henri Robin had precisely the same\nfigure, doing precisely the same feats, in the garb of an\nArab. An illustration from Robin's magazine, L'Alma-\n[298]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 329, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntruth about his so-called innovation, he must have given\nFrikell credit, wherefore he conveniently ignores Frikell\ncompletely.\nIt is entirely characteristic of Robert-Houdin that he\ndid not openly assail Pinetti in the pages of his \"Mem-\noirs.\" With cleverness worthy of a better cause, he quotes\nthe bitter verbal attack as issuing from the lips of the\nfriend and mentor of his youth, Signor Torrini.\nThe major portion of chapter VI., pages 92 to IO4\ninclusive, American edition of his autobiography, is de-\nvoted to assailing Pinetti's abilities as a conjurer and his\nreputation as a man. Granted that Pinetti did put Tor-\nrini to shame on the Neapolitan stage, such revenge for\na wholesale duplication of the magician's tricks might be\ntermed almost human and natural. Had a minor magi-\ncian, amateur or professional, dogged the footsteps of\nRobert-Houdin, copying his tricks, the entire r\u00e9pertoire\nupon which he depended for a livelihood, thus endanger-\ning his future, I doubt that even the author of \"Confi-\ndences d'un Prestidigitateur\" would have hesitated to un-\nmask and undo his rival.\nIn fact, by reference to the editorial note, foot of page\n421, American edition of Robert-Houdin's \"Memoirs,\"\nit will be seen that in 1850 Robert-Houdin appealed to\nthe law for protection in just such a case. An employee\nwas sent to prison for two years, as judgment for selling\nto an amateur some of his master's secrets.\nBut in attacking Pinetti, Robert-Houdin goes a step\ntoo far and falsifies, not directly but by innuendo, when\nhe permits the impression to go forth that Pinetti was\nhounded and ruined both financially and professionally\n[300]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 277, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntricks? Your Majesty will doubtless be still more sur-\nprised when I prove to your satisfaction that this coffer\nReproduction of a very rare pastel portrait of Cagliostro. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nas well as its contents was deposited in the chest of the\norange-tree sixty years ago.'\n\"I should like to believe your statement,' the King\n[ 248]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 143, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntricks. On page II he thus describes the automaton un-\nder consideration :\n\"Illusion Third. A curious mechanical trick; an inn,\nGYNGELL\nReproduction of a rare old colored lithograph in three sections. This section\nrepresents Gyngell. From the Harry Houdini Collection.\nfrom which issues the hostess for orders, upon receiving\nwhich, she returns into the inn and brings out the various\nliquors as called for by the audience, and at last waiting\n[126]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 209, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntory of that automaton. The programme published in\nthat chapter is dated\nFOR SIX NIGHTS ONLY,\n- NOWDAY, - To of - - nive FRIDAY, -\nle fue\n1827, and does not in-\nMr. Schmidt's BENEFIT,\n- SATURDAY to - LAST NIONT of the\nclude the famous bottle,\nMECHANICAL OPTICAL THEATRE\nAt the Mueic-Hall,\nbecause it was no longer a\nAlbion-Street, Leeds.\nnovelty in Herr Schmidt's\nzm. - respostfully the Ledice and of LEEDS\nVielaity, that aftee - Years laboer be hee completed some AUTOMATAN\nNOPE DANCERS, - lasge - Life, which go through Variety of Evelations es\n-\nr\u00e9pertoire; but the ad-\nTighs Repe. To Men of Selence they mest appess impossible, for though thay are estacity\nwith the they from tt, and balance\nle WITHOUT the UST or THEIR HANDS, AND INSTANT.\nLY CONNECT TREMSELVER wire THE MACHINERY AGAIN\nvertisement reproduced\nherewith, dated 1821,\nschedules the bottle trick\nthus: \"The Bottle of\nSobriety and Inebriety,\nproving the inutility of a\nset of decanters, when\nMe. will also introduce Variety of interesting and amasing Pieces of Mechonion,\nnever before exhibited in Loeda,\nRAMO SAMMEE,\nvarious liquors can be\nTNe - Nette Pigure will correctly inform the Company the Time by any Person's\nWatoh: be will also decipher Writing, and any Question proposed to bim.\nThe Dutch Coffee House,\nproduced by one.\" Thus\nAs elegast little Bullding: on the Travellers ringing the bell the door opene-th\nattende and provides h\u00e9m with any Liquor be may vall for.\nSchmidt antedated\nor SAPETY.\nwhich Proporty of any description can be placed on the direction of the Company : the\ncontente will imporceptibly ebange from drawer into another, or evem bobind the glanses.\nThe Bottle of Sobriety and Inebriely,\nHoudin's offering of the\nProving . instilley of est of Decastora, when varions Liquors be produced by -\nTHE MECHANICAL TEA CADDYS,\nAny Lady or Gentionna haring deaire to of any Article, locke in one Cuddy,\ntrick by more than a\nyet - opaning the ether is is lomed there, althongt the Cadity le la the hand of any othes\nPorsoa.\nAN GLASS PILLAR,\nquarter of a century.\nWhich will perform Feats,\nEXPERIMEEN'TS IN ELECTRICITY.\nNext the bottle turned\n-\nThe Engliab - will diccharge . Conmon githeut of\nAN ESTERTAININO' EXPERIMENT WITH TWO ELECTRICAL VASEA,\nThe\npower of Dectricity over de Vegolable Kingdom, prodecing . Cmp es\nIN ON& MINUTE, before the Eyes of the Spectutori.\nup in 1835 in London,\na.\nTHE UNFORTUNATE MAGAZINE,\n- - being placed la alghs of the Audienne a Th\u00e9nder Cloud will descend and the\n- direetly above it, beary finches of Lightining are obsesved striking. dowa apen 14,\nbet - being provided - Conductor they prove ineffectual; after a chort time\nwhere it was presented by\n- Conductup le femoved, the becomes more vivid, cape more strikes the\nin a ignited; asd. le concumed is eight of the\na German whostyled him-\nThe vhole of the Valushle - Splondid EXEIBITION of MECHANICAL amd\nMUSICAL AUTOMATA will be exhibited - Lady The\nArtiet: The Rope Dancer: Magnificons Yose; The The Walk.\n- Figare; A Teranfula As Egyption Limerd; Two Siberiom Mice A Goldem\nself \"Falck of Koenigs-\nA Humrisg Bird; Self-acting Plano-Forte. The whole of the Evening\nAmoument will conciate with the extroordinery\nDANCE OF WITCHES,\nberg, Pupil of the\nor which the folloting de Brief description Grotesque Ballet, representing the Soe\nesser's Anniversary or . Dance of with varions Evolations, Gambola, Dancos, and\ncelebrated Chevalier Pin-\nby - of fancy formeed Figures, producing the most\n. - - de de\n- One - - - AUTOMATA - be - -\n- The AUTUMATA - - la the - Soves -\n- - - their - - - - - Stage\nnetty,\" and who intro-\n- - - - BACH.-A BAND WILL ATTEXA\nPRINITA\nduced the programme\nA Schmidt programme of 1821, featur-\nwith which D\u00f6bler made\ning the Bottle of Sobriety and Inebriety.\"\nFrom the Harry Houdini Collection.\nsuch a sensation in 1842.\n[ 182]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 73, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntime only as astronomical, for showing the various\nmotions and phenomena of planets and fixed stars.'\nMention is also made of musical automata in imitation of\nsinging birds and barrel organs for churches, as among\nPinchbeck's manufactures.\n\"Pinchbeck was in the habit of exhibiting collections\nof his automata at fairs, sometimes in conjunction with a\njuggler named Fawkes, and he entitled his stall \"The\nTemple of the Muses,' Grand Theatre of the Muses,'\nor 'Multum in Parvo.' The Daily Journal of August\n27th, 1729, announced that the Prince and Princess of\nWales went to the Bartholomew Fair to see hisexhibition,\nand there were brief advertisements in The Daily Post of\nJune I 2th, 1729, and the Daily Journal of August 22d\nand 23d, I729. There is still a large broadside in the\nBritish Museum (1850 C. 10-17) headed 'Multum in\nParvo,' relating to Pinchbeck's exhibition, with a blank\nleft for place and date, evidently intended for use as a\nposter. He died November 18th, 1732; was buried No-\nvember 2ist, in St. Denison's Church, Fleet Street.\n\"In a copy of the Gentlemen's Magasine, printed 1732,\npage 1083, there is an engraved portrait by I. Faber,\nafter a painting by Isaac Wood, a reproduction of which\nappears in 'Britten's Clock and Watch Maker,' page 122.\nHis will, dated November roth, 1732, was proved in\nLondon on November r8th.\"\nDuring one of his engagements at the Bartholomew\nFair, Pinchbeck probably met Fawkes, the cleverest\nsleight-of-hand performer that magic has ever known,\nand the two joined forces. Pinchbeck made all the auto-\nmata and apparatus thereafter used by Fawkes, and, in\n[56]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 157, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthrough that eminent family of conjurers known as the\nBambergs of Holland. At this writing, \"Papa\" (David)\nBamberg, of the fourth generation, is prominent on the\nDutch stage, and his son Tobias David, known as Okito,\nof the fifth generation, is a\ncosmopolitan magician, pre-\nsenting a Chinese act.\nAccording to the family\nhistory, traceable by means\nof handbills, programmes,\nand personal correspond-\nence, the original Bamberg\n(Eliazar) had a vaulting fig-\nure in his collection of au-\ntomata in I790, fifty years\nbefore Robert-Houdin be-\ncame a professional enter-\ntainer. This figure was\nDavid Leendert Bamberg, of the\nmade by Opre, to whom\nsecond generation of the Bamberg\nall conjurers of that time\nfamily. Born 1786; died 1869. The\nabove daguerrotype was presented to\nlooked for automata and\nthe author by Herr Ernest Basch,\nand is the only one in existence.\napparatus. David Leendert\nBamberg, of the second gen-\neration, who also had the vaulting figure, was the inti-\nmate friend and confidant of Opre and was authority\nfor the statement that Opre's son sold in Paris the\nvarious automata made by his father, which later Robert-\nHoudin claimed as his own invention. It may be noted\nthat Robert-Houdin never invented a single automaton\nafter he went on the stage in 1845, and as Opre died in\n1846, the coincidence is nothing if not significant.\nI40]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 275, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthree of the cards at hazard, and choose from them the\nplace he might consider most suitable.\n\"'Let us see,' Louis Philippe said, what this one says\n\"I desire the handkerchiefs to be found beneath one of\nthe candelabra on the mantelpiece.\" That is too easy\nfor a sorcerer; so we will pass to the next card: \"The\nhandkerchiefs are to be transported to the dome of the\nInvalides.\" That would suit me, but it is much too far\nnot for the handkerchiefs, but for us. Ah, ah!' the King\nadded, looking at the last card, 'I am afraid, M\nRobert-Houdin, I am about to embarrass you. Do you\nknow what this card proposes?\n'Will your Majesty deign to inform me?'\n\"It is desired that you should send the handkerchiefs\ninto the chest of the last orange-tree on the right of the\navenue.'\nOnly that, Sire? Deign to order, and I shall obey.'\n\"'Very good, then; I should like to see such a magio\nact: I, therefore, choose the orange-tree chest.\n\"The King gave some orders in a low voice, and ]\ndirectly saw several persons run to the orange-tree, ir\norder to watch it and prevent any fraud.\n\"I was delighted at this precaution, which must add\nto the effect of my experiment, for the trick was already\narranged, and the precaution hence too late.\n\"I had now to send the handkerchiefs on their travels.\nso I placed them beneath a bell of opaque glass, and\ntaking my wand, I ordered my invisible travellers to pro-\nceed to the spot the King had chosen.\n\"I raised the bell; the little parcel was no longer there\nand a white turtle-dove had taken its place.\n[ 246]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 253, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthis date, he had used only the ordinary platform and\nrod.\nDuring the course of researches covering many years,\nduring which I visited national libraries in various coun-\ntries, the first trace of the suspension trick was discovered\nin the writings of Ian Batuta, who flourished about the\nthirteenth century. He mentions two conjurers who per-\nformed before the court of the Mogul in Delhi. One of\nthe men assumed the form of a cube and rose into the air,\nwhere he remained suspended. The other man then took\noff his shoe, struck it against a rock, and it also rose and\nhung in midair, close to the suspended conjurer or human\ncube. On being touched on the neck, the cube descended\nto the ground, and the conjurer resumed his natural form.\nThe historical verity of this tale cannot be determined,\nand it may be classed with the familiar story which crops\nup periodically, describing the ball of cord thrown into\nthe air for a youth to climb into the clouds. Once out of\nsight, the youth is said to draw the cord up after him;\nthen presently a leg falls from the unseen heights, then\nanother, followed by an arm, a rib or two, and so on\nuntil the entire body is scattered upon the ground, the\nhead coming last with the neck standing upward. At\nthe command of the magician, the body seems to crawl\ntogether, so runs the tale, and eventually the youth stands\nup to be examined by the astonished populace.\nThese stories belong in the very first of the travellers'\ntales. In 1356 Sir John Mandeville, called by some au-\nthorities \"the Father of English Prose,\" after travelling\nthirty-four years, published a book detailing some of his\nmarvellous \"witnessings.\" Though many of his stories\n[226]\n-"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 121, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthem, so their great value was never realized by his\nfamily. After his death, during a voyage to America,\nUNDEA THE SANCTION or\nthey lay neglected in the\nass aoval LETTERS\nPHILIPSTHAL and MAILLARDET's\ncastle of Mattignon, near\nRoyal Museum,\nBayonne. After changing\nFROM LONDON,\nhands many times, about\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\n-\nWill Opee for Pablic Isepectica,\nAt de ASSEMBLY ROOM, BRIDGWATER.\n1803 they passed into the\nO. FRIDAY the 99d. of MARCH instast,\n- a - - che - - - provide de alle -\nhands of an inventor named\nof - - INGENIOUS MISCES of\nMartin, and were controlled\n,\nby his descendants for nearly\nasvas sereas \" Tate PLACE,\n-\na hundred years. One of his\nSUPERI\nfamily, Henri Martin, of\nMusical Automaton.\n.\nDresden, Germany, exhibit-\nAire\n-\n-\n-\nTHE MECHANICAL.\ned them in many large cities,\nDrawing and Writing-Master;\numa soe. de - - the n -\nand advertised them for sale\n-\n- The - - - - Pase -\n-\nAn Old Necromancer,\nat 15,000 marks in the\n- b . - - - - - -\nexample - - - -\nA NOST\nMuenchener Blaetter of May\nBEAUTIFUL GOLD BOX,\n- - le - - or PARADESE - - - - -\net\n13th, 1883. After Martin's\n- -- - - - - - - -\n- - - - - - - The -\n-\nTHE LITTLE SPANIARD,\ndeath, his widow succeeded\n- - BANCE - nat as AT CONMANO, The -\n- - - - \" - in - - - - -\n-\nA BEAUTIFUL SOURIE DO'R,\nin disposing of them to Herr\nser IN PEARES\n-\n-\n-\n- la - - - -\n- - - Direction, - Om\nMarfels, of Berlin, who had\nAN\nETHIOPEAN CHENILLE DOR,\nBEAUTIFULLY ENAMELLED\nthem repaired with such\nAND\nA TARANTULA. SPIDER:\ngood results that in the fall\n- - - - - - - - -\nas from to Fur 2.\n- - - I - - - of\nof 1906 he sold them for\nThe f , se - the Recoing, - de la. -\n-\n-\n75,000 francs, or about\n& - -\n$15,000, to the Historical\nPoster used, March 29nd, 1811,\nSociety of Neuch\u00e2tel. In\nby de Philipsthal and Maillardet dur-\ning their partnership, on which the\nApril, 1907, the writing fig-\nwriting and drawing figure is fea-\ntured. From the Harry Houdini\nure, the drawing figure, and\nCollection.\nthe spinet player were on\nexhibition in Le Locle, Chaux-de-Fonds, and Neuch\u00e2tel.\n[ IO4 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 303, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthem in water very transparent, rose-water, orange-flower-\nwater, and brandy.\n\"I have smelt the several odours of his liquors; nay,\nI have seen him set fire to a handkerchief dipt in that\nwhich smelt like brandy, and it burnt blue like spirituous\nliquors.\nNay, he frequently promised at Venice to\ngive the water back again in milk and oil. But I think he\ndid not keep his word. In short, he concluded this scene\nwith swallowing successfully thirty or forty glasses of\nwater, always from the same bucket, and after having\ngiven notice to the company by his man (who served as\nan interpreter) that he was going to disembogue, he\nthrew his head back, and spouting out the fair water,\nhe made it spring up with an impetuosity like that of\nthe strongest jet d'eau. This last feat delighted the\npeople infinitely more than all the rest, and during the\nmonth he was at Francfort numbers from all parts came\nto see this slovenly exercise. Though he repeated it more\nthan once a day he had more than four hundred specta-\ntors at a time. Some threw their handkerchiefs, and some\ntheir gloves upon the stage, that he might wet them with\nthe water he had cast up, and he returned them differently\nperfumed, sometimes with rose-water, sometimes with\norange-flower-water, and sometimes with brandy.\"\nAnother famous juggler and water-spouter was Floram\nMarchand, whose picture is herewith reproduced. Judg-\ning from his dress, he antedated Manfrede.\nBell's Messenger of July r6th, 1816, tells of a sword-\nswallower whose work is extremely pertinent to this dis-\ncussion, and the clipping is quoted verbatim:\n\"The French papers give a curious account of one\n[274]\n-"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 49, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntheir way to his workshop and aided him in his study of\na profession which he still hoped to follow. During these\ndiscouraging times he was often assisted financially by\nST,\n-\nregest\nENTERTAINMENT\nTuesday. Thursday\nSaturday Evenings,\nDAY.\nPERFORMANCE\n90\nWednesday\nMorning.\nat\nPoster used in 1848 in London by Robert-Houdin. From the Harry Houdini\nCollection.\none Monsieur G-- who either advanced money on\nhis automata or bought them outright. In the same\nyear, 1844, he retired to a suburb of Paris, and there,\n[42]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 131, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntheir inventive genius and efforts. Modern mechanicians\nagree that such a performance would have been a physical\nimpossibility, even had Robert-Houdin been the expert\nmechanician he pictured himself.\nTo sum up the evidence: The writing and drawing\nSplendid and Unrivalled Exhibition !\n(Fer . Shore peovions . is resoval - a\nThe Nobility and Public are respectfully informed, that\nA MOST MAGNIFICENT AND COSTLY COLLECTION OF\nMechanical and Musical\nAUTOIATONS!\nIS NOW EXHIBITING AT THE\nNew Gothic Haymarket,\nADJOINING THE LITTLE THEATRE:\nTOGETHER wirh A\nGRAND DISPLAY OF ANCIENT ARMOUR :\nWhich carrounds the spacious and desoreted Mall.\nAlso\n. Model of . MAN OF WAR, of Ninely-Four Guns,\nOf the most exquisite Workmenship, and Copper-Bottomed!\nThe\nwhouk the - Instructive and Ammoing ever le -\nTHE MECHANICAL PART\nor this truly conderfel and exchenting which las beea with the\navent distingushbed Patromage, in Paais and other parts of the comprisse the bullowing\nABTIOU!\nThese Performancea in DRAWING - WAITING la - of the Company, defy ell .\nkaph at in regard to marn, and of and This rich\nthe of MECHANISN . sonderfally thet the motion - # -\nguat, saj oppropriele system efeperations, will ever readee \" - of the highest interest -\nThe fusical Lady !\nWho performs, apon sia olggent Finger ORGAN.: variely of pire-ing Ain. The fas inating of bee\nand lovely motion ofthe Eyes, arver to securing bes She boes gracefully to the acdicace bes beaves,\nuf materally b, the leage and every note is produced by the touch of act Sager, with the\nlica of pata, and charge, which are played by the\nThe Rope Dancer !\nWheed surpricing apoe the Tight Rope surgess, to - attitudes, and reclurions, every et the\nArt heepios correct timse to the Munie of the Mechinery\nEbe\nWhene exeite the gresteet and delight.br the regacious be returne to every\nprepesed le his The essetrection of thus wonderfel seif- acting Fagure has lutherte pessied all the\nis Europe'\nThis\nestraerdisary\nFigur,\nmoves\nby\nafe\nova\npovera,\nin\nevery\ndirection,\nthe\ngresteot\ncorgeise\n.\nasving ever by the most intelligret - basical to be utterly impossible, by amy work of -\nto produce will- aving ligure capable of *\nAlso, a STBERTAN MOUSE! set with Prarb.-As ETHIOPEAN CATERPILLAR! of richly n\navelied Gold.-The TERRANTULAR SPIDER! I-A beautifel HUMMING BIRD! that the\n- melodicus Notes. EGYPTIAN LIZARD! of exquisite workmanship. en fine Gold, ac.\nTHE WHOLE EXHIBITING. by their exact Imitations of ANINATED NATURE, the most surpre\nlag Powers of\nN. a. The Visitore will bave the of imprettag the very eurious and compliested by whesh -\nreljjects le this have boca progressively bronght to sech inimitable\nOpre from Eleure will and from Sever till Ten in the Ewning.\nADMITTANCE, 2. CHILDREN, la-TICKETS FOR THE SEASON. 6a.\nNa the - the Nachioory. REPASRE sc.)\nMAVELL sed 6 Prieters, No. 79,\nPoster used by Mr. Schmidt in advertising the writing and drawing figure\nin London just before his departure for St. Petersburg, Russia. From the\nHarry Houdini Collection.\nfigure as turned out by the Jacquet-Drozes was known\nall over Europe. It is not possible that a man so well\nread and posted in magic and automata as Robert-Houdin\n[114]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 325, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthe lad shared his stage triumphs. His other children he\nnever mentions by name. The second wife, who, he\ngrudgingly admits, stood valiantly by him in his days of\npoverty and disappointment, he does not honor by so\nmuch as stating her name before marriage. Rather, he\nrefers to her as a person whom he was constrained to\nplace in charge of his household in order that he might\ncontinue his experiments and his work on automata. A\nless gracious tribute to wifely devotion was never penned.\nBut it is in dealing with contemporary magicians or\nthose whose handiwork in bygone years he cleverly pur-\nloined and proclaimed as his original inventions, that\nthe petty jealousy of the man comes to the surface. When-\never he desires to claim for himself credit due a prede-\ncessor in the world of magic, he either ignores the man's\nvery existence or writes of his competitor in such a man-\nner that the latter's standing as man and magician is\nlowered. Not that he makes broad, sweeping statements.\nRather, he indulges in the innuendo which is far more\ndangerous to the party attacked. He never strikes a\npen-blow which, because of its brutality, might arouse\nthe sympathy of his readers for the object of his attack.\nHere, in the gentle art of innuendo and belittling, if not\nin the conjurer's art, Robert-Houdin is a master.\nIn writing his \"Memoirs\" he deliberately ignores\nCompars Herrmann, Henri Robin, Wiljalba Frikell, M.\nJacobs, and P. T. Barnum, all of whom he knew person-\nally. He might have written most entertainingly of these\nmen, but in each case he had an object in avoiding refer-\nence to the acquaintance. P. T. Barnum knew the true\nhistory of the writing and drawing figure, as reference to\n[296]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 337, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nthe floor of the den. Snakes-scores of them! Now the\ncreature, half-animal, half-human, glances up to make\nsure that attention is riveted upon him, then grasps one\nof the serpents in his hideous hands and in a flash bites\noff its head. The writhing body falls back to the ground.\nYou grip the railing in a sudden faintness. Has your\nbrain deceived your eyes, or your eyes your brain ? If\nyou are a conjurer you try to convince yourself that it is\nall a clever sleight-of-hand exhibition, but in your heart\nyou know it is not true. This creature, so near a beast,\nhas debauched his manhood for a few paltry dollars,\nand in dragging himself down has dragged down the\nname of a worthy, a brilliant, a world-famous performer.\nOf the twentieth-century Boscos there are, alas, many.\nYou will find them all over the world, in street carnivals,\nside-shows, fair-booths, and museums, and why the public\nsupports such debasing exhibitions I have never yet been\nable to understand. I have seen half-staryed Russians\npick food from refuse-barrels. I have seen besotted\nAmericans creep out from low dives to draw the dregs\nof beer-barrels into tomato cans. I have seen absinthe\nfiends in Paris trade body and soul to obtain their be-\nloved stimulant. I have heard morphine fiends in Russia\npromise to exhibit the effect of the needle in return for\nthe price of an injection. But never has my soul so risen\nin revolt as at sight of this bestial exhibition with which\nthe name of Bosco, a nobleman and a conjurer of merit,\nhas been linked.\nEven more despicable than his attack upon Bosco is\nRobert-Houdin's flaying of John Henry Anderson. In\nthis he is both unmanly and untruthful. Hinging his\n[308]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 207, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\ntarget revolve, or, if the frame is used, by having a black\nvelvet curtain pulled up by rapid springs or strong\nrubbers.\nWhile all this is going on, some one has brought on the\nstage the loaded bottle, and as no attention is called to\nthis, by the time the watches have been restored to the\nowners the conjurer introduces the bottle trick, pours\nout the various liquors, and eventually breaks the bottle\nand reproduces the borrowed article tied about the neck\nof the guinea-pig or dove.\nMany names have been given to this trick. The old-\ntime magicians who remained for months in one theatre\nhad to change their programmies frequently, so for one\nnight they would present the bottle without breaking it,\nand on the next they would break the bottle, so as to\nvary the trick.\nThis bottle trick originated in \"The Inexhaustible\nBarrel.\" The first trace that I can find of this wonder-\nful barrel is in \"Hocus Pocus, Jr., The Anatomie of\nLegerdemain,\" written by Henry Dean in 1635 (Second\nEdition). On page 2I is described a barrel with a single\nspout, from which can be drawn three different kinds of\nliquors. This was worked precisely on the same principle\nas was the inexhaustible bottle trick centuries. later, by\nshutting up the air-holes of compartments from which\nliquors were not flowing.\nIts first public appearance, according to the data in my\ncollection, clipped from London papers of 1707 and I7I2,\nwas when the \"famous water-works of the late ingenious\nMr. Henry Winstanly\" were exhibited by his servants\nfor the benefit of his widow; and the exhibition included\n[180]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 305, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nswallows the blade of a sabre about thirteen inches long\nof polished steel. This operation he performs very slowly,\nand with some precaution; though he evinces no symp-\ntom of pain. After every solid body that he swallows, he\nPosition taken by the subject in the Indian basket trick before he is covered\nby the sheet.\nalways takes a small dose of wine expressly prepared for\nhim. He does not seem to make any effort to kill the\nliving animals that he takes in his mouth, but boasts that\nhe feels them moving in his stomach.\"\n[276]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 347, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nstructed his programmes, keeping them strictly up-to-\ndate.\nAnderson did die a poor man, but this was not because\nthe amusement-loving public had wearied of him. A\npopular performer, like so many of his class he did not\nknow how to invest his huge earnings. It is known that\nhe gave $20,000 to various charities, while no record\nof Robert-Houdin's charities exists. He was burned\nout several times. He lost money through a bad con-\ntract made for his Australian tour. Certain investments\ndropped in value because of the Civil War in the United\nStates, during which England sympathized with the South.\nFinally, during his American tour after the Civil War,\nAnderson played the Southern States, then steeped in\nbitterness toward the North, and was unfortunate enough\nto bill himself as \"The Great Wizard of the North.\" This\nroused the Southern prejudice to white heat, he was al-\nmost mobbed, and was finally driven from that section\nof the country. He went into bankruptcy, November\n19th, 1866, and died at Darlington, County Durham,\nEngland, Feb. 3rd, 1874. His remains were interred, in\naccordance with his dying request, at Aberdeen, Scotland.\nSo ends the true history of Robert-Houdin. The mas-\nter-magician, unmasked, stands forth in all the hideous\nnakedness of historical proof, the prince of pilferers.\nThat he might bask for a few hours in public adulation,\nhe purloined the ideas of magicians long dead and buried,\nand proclaimed these as the fruits of his own inventive\ngenius. That he might be known to posterity as the king\nof conjurers, he sold his birthright of manhood and honor\nfor a mere mess of pottage, his \"Memoirs,\" written by\n[318]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 309, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nstarts his dramatic tale of inventing a detector lock by\nwhich he protected a rich neighbor, M. de l'Escalopier,\nfrom robbery, and incidentally in return secured funds\nwith which to open his theatre in the Palais Royal. In\nhis \"M\u00e9moirs\" Robert-Houdin states that the opening\nof the theatre was made possible by the invention of the\nwriting and drawing automaton whose history has been\ntraced in chapter III. The reader can choose between\nthe two stories. One is as plausible as the other.\nBut to return to the detector lock. Count or M. De\nl'Escalopier having complained grievously to his humble\nneighbor, the watchmaker Robert-Houdin, that he and\nhis family were being robbed, begged that the latter sug-\ngest some means of catching the thief. Robert-Houdin\nthen recalled a childish device by which he had caught\nhis school-fellows in the act of pilfering his desk, etc.,\nand he proposed to the Count that the same device, elab-\norated to meet the strength of a full-grown man, be at-\ntached to his wealthy patron's desk. As first planned, the\ndetector lock was to shoot off a pistol on being tampered\nwith, and then brand the hand of the thief with nitrate\nof silver. Count de l'Escalopier objected to branding a\nman for life, so Robert-Houdin substituted for the nitrate\nof silver a sort of cat's claw which would clamp down on\nthe robber's hand and draw blood. The Count deposited\nten thousand francs in his desk and caught the robber,\nhis confidential servant, red-handed. The ten thousand\nfrancs he presented to Robert-Houdin as a reward for\nstopping the thefts.\nA charming tale this makes, but, unfortunately for\nRobert-Houdin's claims to originality, the detector lock\n[,280]\n-"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 265, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsonally that being pressed for time he had entrusted the\nwriting of his \"Memoirs\" to a Parisian journalist.\nAs he warmed up to these reminiscences, he held me\nspellbound. Had he risen from the grave to tell of his\nMrs. Leona A. Anderson, daughter-in-law of John Henry Anderson, as\nshe appeared with him in the suspension trick about 1868. From the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\ncontemporaries, he could not have riveted my attention\nmore securely.\nHere was a man of eighty-four, whose memory quick-\n[236]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 65, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsold for 35,000 francs. The historic temple of magic\nstill stands under the title of \"Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin,\"\nunder the management of M. Melies, a maker of mo-\ntion picture films.\nDuring my investigations in Paris, I was shocked to\n-\nThe last photograph taken of Robert-Houdin and used as the frontispiese for\nthe original French edition of his \"Memoirs,\" published in 1868.\nfind how little the memory of Robert-Houdin was revered\nand how little was known of France's greatest magician.\nIn fact, I was more than once informed that Robert-\nHoudin was still alive and giving performances at the\ntheatre which bears his name.\n1 48 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 55, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsold for 35,000 francs. The historic temple of magic\nstill stands under the title of \"Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Robert-Houdin,\"\nunder the management of M. Mclies, a maker of mo-\ntion picture films.\nDuring my investigations in Paris, I was shocked to\n-\nThe last photograph taken of Robert-Houdin and used as the frontispiese for\nthe original French edition of his \"Memoirs,\" published in 1868.\nfind how little the memory of Robert-Houdin was revered\nand how little was known of France's greatest magician.\nIn fact, I was more than once informed that Robert-\nHoudin was still alive and giving performances at the\ntheatre which bears his name.\n1 48 ]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 109, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsits a figure seven inches high and writes, upon a sheet\nof paper fixed to a frame, whatever has been placed\nbeforehand upon a regulating cylinder. At the end of\neach line it raises and\nmoves its hand sideways,\nin order to begin a new\nline.\"\nThis does not answer the\ndescription of the figure\nwhich Robert-Houdin\nclaims, but it is inter-\nesting as showing that\nmechanical genius ran\nalong such lines almost\na hundred years before\nRobert-Houdin claims to\nhave invented the famous\nPTS JAQUET DROZ.\nautomaton.\nThe writing and draw-\nof\ning figure claimed by Rob-\nothe tres humble Soumm's\nert-Houdin as his original\ninvention can be traced\nph e\nback directly to the shop\ndoor of Switzerland's most\nPortrait and autograph of Pierre\nnoted inventor, Pierre\nJacquet-Droz Born 1721, died 1790.\nFrom the brochure issued by the\nJacquet-Droz, who with\nSociety of History and Archaology,\nCanton of Neuch\u00e2tel, Switzerland.\nhis son, Henri-Louis, laid\nthe foundation of the\nfamous Swiss watch- and music-box industry.\nIn the latter part of the eighteenth century, probably\nabout 1770, the Jacquet-Drozes turned out a drawing.\n[92]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 41, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nsistent statements regarding his life. Such discrepancies\narise as the mention of three chiklsen in one chapter and\nfour in another, while he does net give the names of either\nJean-Eugene Robert-Houdin. Photograph taken about 1868. From the\nHIarry Houdini Collection.\nwife, though he admits his obligation to both good\nwomen.\nAccording to his autobiography, Jean-Eugene Robert\nwas sent to college at Orleans at the tender age of eleven,\nand remained there until he was eighteen. He was then\nplaced in a notary's office to study law, but his mechanical\n[ 34]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 285, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nshow that a popular test was to have articles passed fron\nthe Adelphia Theatre t<\nROYAL CLARENCE THEATRE,\nthe gun which was being\nLIVERFOEL STREET,\nUnder - - of - of\n. - Fes. se n - sess,\nwatched by a sentinel.\nof - a Conto - - Thanks - - -\n- - - -- - - - - Pase of - - g - -\n- - - - - - - - Too - - -\nFebruary 22d, 1833,\nto\n-\nCORNUCOP\\E-COMICALLITY\nfound a Mr. Jefferini\nFROJE\nREAL\nLIFR\n1.\nat the Royal Clarence\nPART\nTheatre, Liverpool\nsera.\nILLUBION\nStreet, King's Cross,\nILLUBION\nserra.\nLiverpool. He agreed\nto make \"an article fly\nILLUSION.\nat the rate of five hun-\nserv.\nsona.\ndred miles an hour,\nMr. SHARP,\nfrom King's Cross to\nthe CELETED\nthe Centre of Greece.\"\nFrom the CITY THEATRE, will Displey bie Inimitable Powera,\nle - a the\nM.\nEFFERINI,\nThe original Buck\nAmeng ther\nTHAUIATURGICS\nfeatured on his pro-\nwa -\nIMPOSSIBILITIES,\ngramme a similar trick\nNe - le - - Audience\nA Decanter of Pert Wime imto Pare Water.\nwhich he called \"The\nwe make - \", as\n500 MILESA MINUTE\nLoaf Trick.\" On a bill\narnas gmoss Contre of cassoz predose\nBOTTLE OF WINE\ndated October 26th,\nA LIVING PIG.\n1840, it is announced\nas follows: \"Watch in\nThe Porformente conclude N. INFFERINIS\nCLASSICAL STUDIES\na loaf. The magician\nor the ANOIENT MASTERS.\nMe.\n,\n-\nContures\n-\nwill command any gen-\nat Via, se - Sorce\nsozas .\n-\nPIT,\nGALLERY. \"\ntleman's watch to dis-\nRak Prier . - sozas - et\nThe Ordese - be admitted - ramay -\n-\nde\n-\n-\nde\nabe\nw. a Nottee\nappear. It will be found\nJefferini handbill, dated 1833, in which\nin a loaf at any baker's\nhe announces that any article will be made\nto fly 500 miles a minute.\nshop in Town.\" The\nsenior Ingleby changed\nthe trick somewhat, sending out to any market for\na\n[ 256]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 273, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nrod was fitted into a special place in the corset, also in\nthe platform. This method was improved, first to make\nit a self-raising suspension, then eventually with a steel\nrod from the back of the stage, eliminating the use of\nboth rods under the arms.\nSpectators and reviewers commented on the rigid,\nalmost painful, carriage of Robert-Houdin's son during\nthe performance, which they laid to the effect of ether.\nUnquestionably Robert-Houdin used this crude corset-\nand-rod method of working the trick.\nThe fumes of ether which reached the audience, he\nadmits, were caused by pouring a little ether over hot\nirons in the wings.\nBut whatever the method employed by Robert-Houdin\nto secure the effects of \"suspension \u00e9th\u00e9r\u00e9enne,\" he was\nmerely introducing a century-old trick, which other\ncontemporary magicians were also exhibiting. The name\nof the real maker of the apparatus may never be known,\nbut some clever mechanician supplied Robert-Houdin,\nCompars Herrmann, and John Henry Anderson with\nprecisely the same method of working the trick, at pre-\ncisely the same time. Robert-Houdin alone was audacious\nenough to claim the invention as his own.\n[ 244]"}
{"path": "unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf", "page": 53, "folder": "", "text": "THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN\nretired to his home at St. Gervais. Here he continued\nto work along mechanical and electrical lines, and in 1855\nhe again came into public notice, winning awards at the\nExhibition for electrical power as applied to mechanical\nuses. In 1856, according to his autobiography, he was\nRobert-Houdin's grave, in the cemetery at Blois, France. From a photo-\ngraph taken by the author, especially for this work, and now in the Harry\nHoudini Collection.\nsummoned from his retirement by the Government to\nmake a trip to Algeria and there intimidate revolting\nArabsby1 the exhibition of his sleight-of-hand tricks. These\nwere greatly superior to the work of the Marabouts or\nArabian magicians, whose influence was often held re-\nsponsible for revolts. What Robert-Houdin received for\n[ 46 ]"}