1057

Harry Houdini

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Harry Houdini

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Auction Date:2016 Jul 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Signed book: The Seybert Commission on Spiritualism. First edition. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1887. Hardcover, 5.5 x 8.285, 160 pages. Signed in pencil with his ownership signature on the first free end page, “Harry Houdini, Bo[ugh]t in Glasgow Scotland.” An earlier owner’s signature appears above. Houdini’s bookplate is affixed to the front pastedown, and he has underlined and added a few notes in the margins throughout; for instance, on page twenty he identifies an unnamed juggler as the magician “Harry Kellar,” and on page seventy-eight he writes, “Kellar outdid Slade.” Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG-/None, in a NF slipcase. Accompanied by a custom-made leatherbound clamshell case. Houdini dedicated a significant amount of time and effort to debunking the claims of spiritualists, psychics, and mediums by exposing their fraudulent methods. He visited Scotland in 1920 as a part of his ongoing crusade to expose false beliefs in spirits and the occult, thus it is quite likely that he purchased this book while there. Houdini eventually published his own book on the subject, A Magician Among the Spirits, in 1924. A superb association copy clearly read by Houdini and studied by him in detail.