This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/26/2023
[HOUDINI] ROBERT-HOUDIN, Jean Eugène (1805 – 71). Memoirs of Robert-Houdin. London: Chapman and Hall, 1859. AN IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY. SIGNED THREE TIMES BY HOUDINI. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF THIS SEMINAL CONJURING AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Two volumes in matching dark blue pebbled cloth (soiled and neatly rebacked), stamped in gilt and blind. 8vo. Spines toned and chipped, general shelfwear, bindings slightly canted. Pages very good, a few old fold marks. Toole Stott 602. Volume 1 INSCRIBED AND SIGNED by Houdini to his confidant and Lawyer, Bernard M.L. Ernst on the title page: “To my good friend B.M.L. Ernst, Best wishes, Houdini, December 6, 1922.” Additionally INITIALED in Houdini’s hand on the flyleaf, and INSCRIBED AGAIN and initialed by Houdini in pencil, “The rare 2 vol edition / HH.” Volume 2 also SIGNED by Houdini on the flyleaf in pencil. A remarkable association copy of this important work, initialed and signed four times by the most famous magician of all time. Houdini’s admiration for Robert-Houdin stemmed from his reading of this very book, long considered one of the best memoirs of its time. In fact, it was Houdini’s fascination with the life and career of “the father of modern magic” that led to the creation of a name that is now universally linked with magic: Houdini. By adding the letter “I” to the end of “Houdin,” young Erich Weisz became Houdini, with the understanding that appending the letter to his hero’s name was a way to be “like” Robert-Houdin. However, much changed as Houdini’s reputation and fame grew, and in 1908 he published a book that used the words of these very memoirs against their author. The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin was all but a chapter-by-chapter takedown, a literary assault by Houdini on his former hero. Using the words of Robert-Houdin against him, Houdini set out to tarnish the reputation of his forebear by “proving” the Frenchman’s greatest inventions were first conceived and performed by other men. Even so, Houdini remained a collector and considered himself a great scholar of the history of magic, as evidenced by his notation in the first volume of this set.