M & S Rare Books

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(MAGIC). HOUDIN, ROBERT. The Sharper Detected and Exposed. London: Chapman and Hall, 1863. 1st ed. 12mo. 12, 268 pp. Handsome modern 3/4 calf. On a front blank endpaper, in ink, is the following inscription: "Dear Joe: I don't know any better card shark to give this to than you. With best wishes of 'the finisher'/ JE--[?] Jan. 25/ 49". The endpapers are marbled, and glued to the front free marbled endpaper is a small jack of clubs. On the similar back endpaper is glued the queen of diamonds. Both should have been mentioned in our description. Top of spine gilt. Leaves are crisp, unmarked and unfolded. $2,750.00

 

"So remarkable were the innovations that Robert-Houdin introduced to stage illusions that he has been called the father of modern magic. By profession a clockmaker, he was born Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin in Blois, France, in 1805. His debut as a magician was in 1845 in Paris. He was the first magician to use electricity; he perfected the thought-transference trick; and he used common objects to create illusions instead of complicated pieces of machinery. He also denounced magicians who claimed psychic powers or supernatural help for their tricks. Robert-Houdin is the man from whom the American magician Harry Houdini took his name a generation later."