Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

Houdiniana

Sat, Apr 8, 2023 12:00PM EDT
Lot 270

The Whole Art of Legerdemain, or Hocus Pocus Laid Open and ...

Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
The Whole Art of Legerdemain, or Hocus Pocus Laid Open and Explained?With Full Instructions How to Perform the Various Tricks on Cards, Dice, Birds, Eggs, Rings &c. Baltimore: C.V. Nickerson, 1830. 12mo. (Several corners clipped or rounded at beginning including title?page, browning and spotting throughout as usual). Full?page woodcut on verso of title?page. Original cloth?backed pictorial paper?covered boards with the imprint dated 1832 (extremities worn, text block detached but still stitched); folding chemise and morocco?backed slipcase (spine sunned). RARE EARLY AMERICAN EDITION and possibly an unrecorded variant not in Toole Stott: this example has no frontispiece but instead a non?magic related illustration on the verso of the title?page depicting three men and three women standing around a fireplace with a fourth man walking into the scene with a bundle of wood. See Toole?Stott 719?722 (other variants).