This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/8/2023
ROTERBERG, August (1867 – 1928). New Era Card Tricks. [Chicago]: Author, 1897. FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s Bright maroon cloth lettered and decorated in gilt. Portrait frontispiece, plates and illustrations. Patterned endpapers. 8vo. Front hinge starting, chips to endsheets and tape soiling to front pastedown, boards soiled and cloth worn; still, a bright and attractive example in good condition. PRESENTATION COPY, GIFTED TO HOUDINI by Roterberg, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED on the flyleaf by the author “Dec. 6. 97 / To my esteemed friend / Harry Houdini / With compliments / of the Author,” AND WITH HOUDINI’S ANNOTATIONS AND SIGNATURE below the inscription on the flyleaf. They read, in full, “On page 108. Important trick perfected by Dr. S.C. Hooker. 1918. [The Rising Cards]. Page 32 – My name is mentioned, but I was deliberately forgotten that is omitted from Page 48 because R[oterberg] said I was only a small performer & at that time I was the peer of any magician in card-sleights. H Houdini.” Before securing his reputation as the world’s foremost escape artist, Houdini presented a standard act of tricks, punctuated with an impressive routine of card manipulation, so much so that he was billed for a time as the “King of Cards.” This billing was still in use when Roterberg’s book was published, leading to the annotations in Houdini’s hand regarding his abilities and reputation as a card magician. Roterberg was one of the leading American dealers in magic apparatus for some three decades, and maintained a longstanding and relatively close friendship with Houdini.