pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 203
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 203 | CHAPTER VI THE INEXHAUSTIBLE BOTTLE W HILE Robert-Houdin claims to have invented "The Inexhaustible Bottle" for a special programme designed to create a sensation at the opening of his season of 1848, in the illustrated appendix of the original French edi- tion of his "Memoirs" he states that it had its premier presentation December ist, 1847. These discrepancies occur with such frequency that it is difficult to refute his claims in chronological order. Perhaps he adopted this method intentionally, to confuse future historians of magic, particularly concerning his own achievements. In order to emphasize the brilliancy of this trick, Robert-Houdin turned boastful in describing it. On page 348 of the American edition of his "Memoirs," he states that the trick had created such a sensation and was so much exploited in the London newspapers that the fame of his inexhaustible bottle spread to the provinces, and on his appearance in Manchester with the bottle in his hand the workmen who made up the audience nearly mobbed him. In fact, the description of this scene is the most dramatic pen-picture in his "Memoirs." The truth, sad to state, is that the bottle trick did not create the sensation he claims for it in London, nor did the press eulogize it. It was classed with other ordinary [176.] |