This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
BODIE, Walford (1869 – 1939). Four Bodie Pitch Books. [Scotland: Author, ca. 1910]. Comprising: How to Become a Hypnotist; Hypnotism. Bodieism or Bodic-Force; Dr. Bodie’s Book of Valuable Prescriptions; and How to Become a Wizard by Albert Edward Bodie. The latter authored by Bodie’s son. All 16mos in publisher’s wraps, the first three bearing portraits of the Scottish wizard on the upper wrappers, the latter lettered in black on grey wraps and in poor condition; the former three with minor creases, foxing, and short tears, but generally in good condition. A scarce grouping of “back of the house” pamphlets sold after Bodie’s performances. Sold together with: a later photograph of Charlie Chaplin dressed as Bodie for a spoof music hall performance based on the Doctor’s antics. See Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women, p. 129. Equal parts magician and charlatan, Bodie was a tremendously successful music hall performer who blurred the line between magic and medicine, claiming the feats he performed – such as lighting electric bulbs in his hands and claiming his purported “bloodless surgery” (presented on stage) could cure any number of ailments. The fluid nature with which he treated the truth, coupled with a suit brought against him by a former assistant in 1909 led to a “The Great Bodie Trial,” and eventually a riot of some 1000 students in Glasgow, many of whom chanted “Bodie, Bodie – quack, quack, quack.” A second mob attacked Bodie’s premises in London just days later, burning him in effigy in the street.