Death and the Magician: THE MYSTERY OF HOUDINI.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Dw/dj front panel design is based on an original poster,advertising a performance by Houdini,which is in the possession of Mr. Millbourne Christopher.] NFINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,facsimile poster colour photographic reproduction illustrated front panel of dw/dj,with yellow+orange lettering,rear panel with contemporary b/w subject's portrait photograph; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.All four corners along with the head+foot of spine/ backstrip of bds and dw/dj all minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing to same.Top edges lightly aged/toned,fore-edges slightly brighter but both generally clean without foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain red cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white eps.UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn, vii-ixpp+4-194pp [paginated] includes separate contents+illustrations lists/tables,Pts 1+2 comprising 5 and 6 chapters respectively,an 8pp block of contemporary b/w auto+biographical photographs between pp86/7,a note on Houdini's Magic and Escapes,an annotated bibliography, acknowledgements and an index,plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages. History's greatest escapologist - from handcuffs,straitjackets and sealed coffins,from breath-taking drops into deep water - was in reality a tragic figure haunted by a fear of the unknown.No man risked death so often and so daringly; no man was so haunted by its shadow.For years after his mother died,Houdini would prostrate himself upon her grave.Though he himself was convinced most mediums of his time were fraudulent,he was so anxious to re-establish contact with his beloved mother that he attended numerous seances in the hope of doing so.All his life he questioned whether his own extraordinary gifts of escape might not,without his knowledge,be supernatural.This mystery,some would say,has still not been resolved. Raymund Fitzsimons' biography of Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest in 1874 and taken to America as a child) is a fascinating study of his career from his early days as a touring conjurer in beer halls and at fairgrounds.Escaping from handcuffs and from sealed trunks became a speciality; with his devoted wife Bess (when they met she was one of 'The Floral Sisters,Neat Song and Dance Artists'),he perfected his technique until it was so spectacular that he became a star not only in New York but in Berlin,Paris and London.In his later years he became increasingly involved in investigating psychic phenomena,finding himself,to his own regret,at odds with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,among others.He died,of peritonitis,in Detroit in 1926.Houdini and Bess had arranged a code to ensure that any spirit message she might receive from him was genuine.Many mediums claimed to be in touch with him,but his widow repudiated them all; the rest,at last, was silence. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too!
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