Recollections of Robert-Houdin: Clockmaker, Electrician, Conjurer.
MANNING, William [Robert-Houdin].
Recollections of Robert-Houdin: Clockmaker, Electrician, Conjurer.
Signed limited Privately Printed Opuscula edition of William Manning's Recollections of Robert-Houdin; finely bound by Zaehnsdorf
London: The Chiswick Press, Tooks Court, 1891.
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Item Number: 150671
Signed limited privately printed opuscula edition of William Manning’s recollections of Robert-Houdin, issued to the Members of the Sette of Odd Volumes. Duodecimo, finely bound in full polished calf by Zaehnsdorf with elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, gilt ruling and botanical gilt scrolling to the front and rear panels, gilt central emblem of Ye Sette of Odd Volumes to both panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, frontispiece portrait, illustrated. Original wrappers bound in. One of 205 numbered copies signed by the author on the presentation colophon, this is number 32, presented to English parodist Walter Hamilton. In fine condition. With Hamilton’s ownership signature. A very attractive example of this rarity.
Ye Sette of Odd Volumes was a London-based bibliophilic club founded in 1878 by bookseller Bernard Quaritch, bringing together a diverse membership united by an interest in books and book culture. Its members included literary figures, artists, scientists, politicians, businessmen, and self-styled eccentrics, reflecting a deliberately eclectic approach to book collecting and appreciation rather than a narrow scholarly focus. The club functioned as a social and intellectual space in which collecting, conversation, and performance of learned eccentricity were closely intertwined. Although the original Sette disbanded in 1939 on the eve of the Second World War, it was reconstituted in 1950 with a new membership.
