Select Secrets: Rare & Important Magicana

Houdini, Harry (Ehrich Weisz). Houdini Jail Cell Challenge Poster. Liverpool: Spelman, Printer, 1904. Bold letterpress printed poster for a challenge escape effected by Houdini from the Liverpool Police Office on Feb. 2, 1904, describing in detail how the great magician, in a “nude state” escaped from three sets of handcuffs (one “close fitting”) and a locked jail cell in approximately six minutes, and then opened all other cells and relocated the inmates in the jail. 29 ¾ x 20”. Linen backed. A few chips and minor restoration to old folds. A-. Houdini’s stunt of relocating prisoners in the jail has become the stuff of legend. His most famous prisoner swap occurred in Washington, D.C. in 1906, two years after this poster was printed.