![]() Titled “Popular Card Tricks,” it came out in 1926. She gave Gibson permission to publish the first book under his own name. Gibson wasn’t sure what to do with the completed first book, so he asked Bess, who said she was too busy with her husband’s estate (For the next 10 years, she held séances to try to speak to him). The magician died before seeing either of them. Gibson completed the first book and decided to finish the second before sending them to Houdini. The two met often, with Houdini deciding on which of his tricks to include. Houdini was born Erik Weisz (and renamed Ehrich Weiss by his immigrant parents after moving to America) in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874 he came to this country as a child in 1878.Īs for the books of magic, Houdini’s planwas to write them for beginners and professionals with ghost-writer/magician Walter Gibson. He had developed an interest in magic years before after reading about a French magician named Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, from whom he borrowed his new name. ![]() He gave up the magic and became an escape artist – a move that sealed his legacy after he made it big in 1899. The Brothers Houdini dissolved, and Bess became Harry’s assistant. ![]() Harry Houdini and his wife Bess captured on a cabinet card, along with the inside cover page of the book. At the time, Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Rahner was a member of a song and dance group called The Floral Sisters. Theo had first dated her, but she and Harry got together and were married three weeks later. She and Houdini had met in the early 1890swhile he was performing in a magic show with his brother Theo at Coney Island. His wife Bess ended up doing her own book of his magic tricks in 1927.īess Houdini had been his stage assistant, confidant, and along with his mother, his sweetheart. The book was one of several to be published by Houdini and another magician, but Houdini died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix in 1926 before the first one was published. These were more stunts than magic, but they did appear to be engaging. The first few offered magic tricks and their secrets that were much too simple for Houdini or any other serious magician. I obviously wanted to see what some of these tricks were, so I hastily started turning pages. It was described as a book with “fascinating puzzles, tricks and mysterious stunts.” The front cover of the Houdini Big Little Book of Magic published in 1933. The book had a copyright date of 1927 by Beatrice Houdini, the magician’s wife and executor of his estate. ![]() From what was printed on the cover, the book – which had been tossed among other incongruous items on an auction table – contained 145 magic tricks by Harry Houdini and other magicians. It was a Big Little Book, one of the palm-sized books made by the Whitman Publishing Co. The word “MAGIC” had eerily disappeared from its title, but the name Houdini was in large bold letters. Its spine was torn, its cover was marked with a jagged water stain, and its cover was slightly ajar. It would take more than magic to put this little book back together again. ![]()
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