| Show uncle sam gets books handcuff expert spent fortune accumulating noted works on legerdemain washington enriched each year by the addition of volumes the library of congress now possesses among other treasures what Is un the greatest collection of books on magic ever assembled it Is the library of the celebrated magi clan and handcuff king the late barry who gathered material from all corners of the earth writes john 3 daly in the chicago tribune when I 1 die said barry to a newspaper man between perform ances in a vaudeville theater 1 I shall leave behind me as my proudest con to posterity a collection of books on magic the like of which has never been seen before ue did ue gave in toto some books and pamphlets to the congles elonar library some of them the rarest books on magic to be found anywhere ahe lot cost a fortune it took him the better part of a lifetime to accumulate close student of magic looked upon merely as an entertainer harry studied the art of magic as most men delve into their favorite subject be it philosophy psychology medicine or the law ue went as deep in legerdemain as any man who ever lived and it Is said by those who should know that harry had no master when he died that he was the last word in all told be was master of more than tricks some of which he learned from the books now recorded in the library of congress some of which he got first hand from men who never read a book indian magicians and the like the collection of books on magic given the american public by harry marks the first step in the development of a lore of this kind in the united states heretofore any one interested in the intricacies of an art that has come down from the time of the exodus had pre foree to find out by practice by apprenticeship to a master that of course in a measure must be the case today but with the collection chere it can be studied publicly the road Is made somewhat easier for thoe boys and girls who would devote their lives to baffling their fellows books of famous magicians in collection now being assorted and cataloguer catalogued catalo gued at the library of congress are books on magic once owned by the two the daven port brothers heinberg Heln berg harrigan Harrl gan ilagan platt robinson alexander herman the great and a host of others whose names have become legion in legerdemain of books particularly devoted to magic there are in this collection 1727 Is only one missing a book on magic that has been lost to collectors for all time it seems since no trace of it could be found even by in his word wide search this volume Is the celebrated hocus junior the anatomy of legerdemain a treatise on the gentle art of conjury by johann baptasta porta the famous heo politan magician who held forth in the seventeenth century though hocus Is not in the list there Is another work by this same author that Is worth its weight in gold this Is magla a rare clumsy volume in german text that contains a fantastical woodcut showing the original methods of securing magical aid porta began this book in after he had written the lost volume hocus and therein lie shows the first method of producing the famous candle trick by many candles are lighted elmul a baffler in the old dais but now quite tame beside some of the i lore modern tricks describes pristine method in an elaborate detail porta de scribes the pristine method I 1 inen thread was boiled in oil with brim atone and orpiment and when dried bound to the wicks of several candles when one candle was lighted it ignot ed all the others much to the myall fl catlon of spectators magla aatu rolls incidentally Is one of the earliest works on conjury harry had a great time col thee books hen he was nol appearing IP a theater or accepting the challenge of some police depart it mt to break from iron cells and the like he spent most of his time in the cities he visited searching shelves 0 old boak shops the imprints on the fly leaves of the books show they come from far and wide from almost every country tn the civilized world most of the books are in a rare state of preservation despite the fact tint ome date back more than years there Is one for instance published in this Is the work of simon of amsterdam who wrote Tover Boek oft leuw der consten Kon sten a volume falling almost to dust on the shelves of the library of congress but one that contains a variety of of interest to all students of hauberg 8 works in collection the german an extravagant treatise la three volumes under date of a book known as magilca and this finds a favored pot in the collection light een volumes from the pen of johann christian le gleb under the title magle were published from 1780 to 1804 and these are in tact probably the only complete set in this country had quite a difficult time annexing these they constitute the first monumental work on magic and were an attempt to corn plemely cover the field a library in it self these earlier books give a good insight into the field of magic not one of them contains the great tricks of the masters for these were preserved with infinite secrecy ably the first great expose of stock tricks in magic came when a book called les adventures de jerome sharp issued in 1793 from the pen of a young frenchman M destremps a frink volume that en joyed quite a popularity in its day this captured early in his search it is now safely preserved in the library of congress along with the other rare volumes conjury fathered by italians thus runs the earlier collection from porta to Wit geest to II auber to to destremps they con statute the earlier essays in the mod era school of conjury fathered it is by the italians Andro lettl and antonio carbotti Car fotti prided himself on his knowl edge not only of magl cry but of the psychic and his books on psychical research outnumbered those he gath ered on the first subject there are volumes bequeathed by him to the library of congress books that deal with a subject which interested him more and more in his later life leader of his profession only fiat two years of age when he died his death occurred october 31 1920 harry had conquered the world about him at least in so tar as his particular subject occupied the attention of that world lie believed with others that no form of entertain ment compared with magic that after all theatergoers in every land are as little children and love to be amused by the deftness of the hand the quick ness of movement that deceives the eye he was probably right since no theater in which he appeared in the last twelve or fifteen ears was ever large enough to accommodate his fol lowing in the vernacular of the theater ue packed cm in ills reward was the highest alven any entertainer ter of bis time with the excel alon of such outstanding singers and stars as caruso john gat II 11 curd and others of that alk collection prized that such an austere institution as the library of congress containing as it does practically ull the known knowledge of the universe values the collection Is evidenced by the statement recently given it follows in part the consummate magician and mysterious handcuff manipulator the baffling conjurer and poa sessor of a thousand arm s was known the world around but the book collector was known to but a few and Is only now disclosed to the public generally by the terms of ills mill disposing of the library it took him a lifetime to build 0 o less than three collections are comprised in it one Is on drama which he bequeathed to his wife the other two one on magic and the other on psychical research he bequeathed to the library of congress 0 o book on magic was too humble to arrest the attention of harry the collector ills choice bits therefore run all the way from the paltry little treatise of prof harry helms whose scrapbook Is labeled the fa magician and juggler to the compendium compiled by L W de laurence entitled the great book of magical art hindu magic and indian occultism a work that con bains an amazing array of material fanciful and hindu needle trick in all the realm of con talked in the collection there Is no line to tell the inner workings of the celebrated hindu needle trick a trick atiat mastered only after seven sears study in the a press club at washington the famous magician returned that year from abroad first unfolded this trick in 1912 it consisted of a relatively alm pie operation the swallowing in succession of two pad ages of gold headed needles a hundred feet of thread and the drinking on top of all this a glass ful of water careful examination 0 the mans mouth a search conducted by fingers aided by flashlights filled to reveal any traces of thread or needles when a committee was thus con vinced that the steel needles and the cotton thread had thoroughly feared houdina his hands behind hla back motioned for a member of the committee to release a knotted piece of thread lodged beewen the magi clans teeth this done he instructed the committeeman to draw forth the thread warning carelessness as he explained lou might tear my throat out came the needles at regular intervals all threaded how he did it no one ever knew he learned the trick he said from an old hindu magician he was afraid it was too delicate to be used successfully on the stage because of lighting difficulties but in later years it found favor among the masses the secret died with him it Is not to be found any where in hla collected books harry houdina born eric the son of rev dr mayer S eiss of appleton als april 6 1874 came by the name in this way As a boy he was interested in the career of what he thought the greatest magi clan of all time the famous french conjurer robert boudin in 1857 houden at the request ot the french government journeyed to algeria to overshadow the influence of Mar who were then exerting a super sti itous influence on the arabs by means of magic houden in tunis managed to rout the Mar destroying their prestige so that the arabs came back to normalcy for this he was honored by the french government if a man could do that fought eric afterwards houd 1 l he was worthy of emulation so had his name changed legally to houden unmasks houden the irony of it Is that in after years harry making a study of methods found his idol to be so much clay and wrote a book called the unmasking of robert houden a heartbreak to who said my investigations brought forth only the bitterest disappoint ment and saddest disillusionment stripped of his self woven veil of ro mance robert houden stood forth in the uncompromising light of cold his facts a mere pretender a man who waxed great on the brainwork of others a who boldly nichea the inventions of the master craftsmen among his predecessors harry whatever may be said or thought of him was honest in his work and in his beliefs in the theater he was known as a par excellence because as those in that world have it he knew how to put over his act he first appeared in 1882 a performer around the late nineties he began to be recognized under the Rut dince of martin beck lie gained hla early fame as the hand cuff king front then on he occupied the center of the stage in this and other countries having at one time or another appeared before most of the rulers in every country on earth |
