A Magician Among the Spirits.

HOUDINI, Harry.

Item Number: 98327

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1924.

First edition of this work by Houdini. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with 15 photographic plates. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Houdini presents to Arthur Cuddihy his compliments & trusts you will accept this book with as much pleasure as he presents same. May 6/24 “my brain is the key that sets me free.” In near fine condition, bookplate. Housed in a custom slipcase. An unique signed example, with an exceptional quote by Houdini.

The world’s greatest escape artist reveals that “it is this question as to the truth or falsity of inter-communication between the dead and the living, more than anything else, that has claimed my attention and to which I have devoted years of research and conscientious study… I too would have parted gladly with a large share of my earthly possessions for the solace of one word from my loved departed.” Edmund Wilson once divulged that Houdini “lives in constant terror of being outwitted by a telepathist or a medium. Where he once challenged the world to tie him up, he now challenges it to convince him of the supernatural.”