This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/11/2021
[HOUDINI] DeLion, Clement. Tryllebogen. Copenhagen: Forlgat Af V. Pios Boghandel, 1910. “AS I LAY ON MY BED OF GRIEF”. Printed wrappers (considerably chipped and worn), spine reinforced with old tape. Illustrated with line drawings. 80pp. 8vo. With the stamp of Doug Henning’s World of Magic inside the rear wrapper, and the inked signature “Doug & Debby Henning.” The title page bears any inscription by the author DeLion to Harry Houdini, and is dated in DeLion’s hand at the base of the page, “Copenhagen 18 July 1913.” With a silver print photo of a youthful DeLion inscribed and signed to Houdini on the reverse of the mount laid in. On the title page, in the gutter, Houdini writes a lengthy note in ink. In full: “DeLion gave this book to me as I lay on my bed of grief – having lost my dearest mother July 17 – 1913. I was in Copenhagen just having arrived there. (July 18 – 1913) DeLion had just lost his wife. They went bathing & she was carried away & drowned. H.H.” Houdini has also penciled in the word “Danish” on the title page. Much has been written of Houdini’s special bond with his mother, Cecelia Weiss, and the profound effect her death had on him. Clement DeLion was a refined sleight-of-hand magician from Denmark who specialized in manipulative magic with billiard balls.