Gibson, Walter & Morris Young: Houdini on Magic
©1953 Dover Publications
Softcover, perfectbound, 280 pages

Comments: "Houdini on Magic is a new work, published for the first time by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1953. The editors are grateful to Harcourt Brace and Co. for permission to reprint material from Houdini's Escapes by Walter B. Gibson, copyright ©1930 by Bernard M.L. Ernst and from Houdini's Magic by Walter B. Gibson, copyright © 1932 by Bernard M.L. Ernst. The editors also express their gratitude to John J. McManus for use of illustrations from his collection of magic materials."

Contents:

vii Introduction

1 I HOUDINI ON HANDCUFFS AND RESTRAINTS
3 Light on Jail Breaking
8 The Straitjacket Release
11 Skeleton Keys
13 The German Transport Chain
16 Lock Picking Implements
21 Opening Sealed Handcuffs
22 The Plug-Eight Handcuff
23 English Regulation Cuffs
24 Moscow Escape
27 Cologne Police Libel Suit
28 The Spirit Collar
29 The Champion Lock Cuff

31 II HOUDINI ON ROPE MAGIC
32 Know Your Ropes
33 A Simple Release
34 Three Effects With the Handcuff Tie
37 The Thumb Tie
40 The Clothesline Tie
41 Simplex Tie
43 Under Water Escape
45 Spectacular Escapes
46 The Big Wheel Release
48 North American Indian Tie
50 Russian Transport Tie
51 Houdini's Full View of Audience Release

55 III: HOUDINI ON MAGICIANS
57 Doctor Katterfelto
64 - Who Was Dr. Katterfelto?
67 Philadelphia: A Historical Seventeenth Century Magician
73 Wiljalba Frikell
84 Johann N. Hofzinser
91 George Heubeck
94 Wyman the Wizard

101 IV: HOUDINI ON CHALLENGES
104 The Sailor Challenge
105 The Wet Sheet Test
106 The Blanket Restraint
108 The Pasteboard Box Escape
109 The Paper Bag Escape
111 The Basket Escape
112 Ladders and Rope Challenge
114 The Great Cell Mystery
115 The Barrel Challenge
117 The Mail Bag Escape
118 The Spanish Maiden
119 The Double Box Escape

121 V: HOUDINI ON SPOOKS
122 Spiritualism Sweeping the World
124 Houdini Before Congress
127 A Marvelous Coincidence
128 The Spirit Knots
129 The Vanishing Knot
129 The Spirit Release
130 Table Lifting
131 Spiritualistic Secret - Library Directory Service
131 The Zan Zic Slate
133 The Talking Skull
133 Spirit Photos
134 The Vest Turning Mystery
134 Margery the Medium Exposed

163 VI: HOUDINI ON TRICKS
165 Coin and Glass
166 Four Coin Assembly
169 Hypnotic Match Box
170 The Uncanny Glass
170 A Spooky Ball
171 The Astonishing Egg
172 A New Dyeing Tube
174 Spirits of Aqua
175 Magnetic Matches
176 The Traveling Die
177 Restoring a Match
179 Tri-Color Cards
180 The Imprisoned Card
181 The Houdini Card
183 Multiple Card Prediction
184 The Photogenic Card
186 Cut and Restored String
188 Cone and Egg
190 Card in Egg
192 Finding a Chosen Card
193 The Balancing Magic Wand
194 Cigar on Hat
194 Exchanging a Marked Coin
195 The Ribbon Escape
197 Lifting a Human Being With Power From Eyes
199 The Hindoo Boiling and Disappearing Water Trick
200 The Spelling Bee Card Trick
201 A Mind Reading Effect
201 Coin Balanced on Sword
202 A Vanish in Mid-Air
205 Sawing a Woman into Twins
210 The Transformation Cabinet
212 The Flight of Venus
216 The Giant Ball of Wool
218 A Vanish From a Ladder
221 Walking Through a Brick Wall
222 A Second-Sight Act
224 - The Watch Test
226 - The Figure Test to 10,000
228 - The Playing Card Test
229 - The Slate Test
231 - The Book Test
232 - The Colored-Pencil Test
233 - Presentation of the Act

237 VII: HOUDINI ON MISCELLANEOUS MYSTERY
238 Addressing An Audience: editorial
241 Hints For Young Magicians Under Eighty
242 Bobby: Handcuff King dog
243 The Art of Cryptography
245 Scytala Laconias
246 Checker Board Cypher
247 Deciphering Secret Codes
248 Joaquin Maria Argamasilli — The Spaniard With X-Ray Eyes
257 Ching Ling Foo's Paper Trick

261 VIII: HOUDINI ON THE RIGHT WAY TO DO WRONG
262 Cheating Uncle Sam
266 Tricks Of The Bunco Men
269 Thieves And Their Tricks
273 Pickpockets At Work
276 Humbugs

279 Selective Bibliography






Harry Houdini's fame is secure as the greatest magician of modern times. Many of his fabulous escapes, indeed, now sound more like legend than history, yet they really happened!

Houdini permitted himself to be thrown, manacled, into the Hudson River; to be nailed into packing cases and lowered into the ocean; to be suspended by the ankles, strait-jacketed, hundreds of feet above the ground-and in every case, he escaped easily.

This book is Houdini's own account of these exploits, supplemented with rare photographs and posters, first-hand material from periodicals and pamphlets, and behind-the-scenes revelations of some of the master's most prized secrets: how he picked locks, how he sawed a girl in half to become twins, how he walked through a brick wall, how a girl can vanish from a sheet of plate glass without trapdoors, hoists, mirrors or other such apparatus.

There are also instructions for performing 44 stage tricks, including the coin and glass, the Indian needle trick, and other standards. These are fully-illustrated with diagram sequences that cover every step in the performance. Finally, of special interest to many readers are Houdini's own accounts of great magicians of history and of Houdini's own battles with spiritualists and fraudulent mediums.