Description:

Houdini Harry 1879 - 1926 Harry Houdini's personal signed and annotated copy of the Seybert Commission report on Spiritualism, with thirteen words in his hand His ownership signature "Harry Houdini" in bold pencil on the second front free endpaper of the Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by The University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism in Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry Seybert (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1887) 160 pages, 8vo, bound in titled brown cloth boards and spine. Below his ownership signature, Houdini has added in pencil: "Bot [sic] in Glasgow Scotland" all of which was added below the ownership of the book's original owner, "R. M. Kirby 1887." Numerous passages toward the front of the volume are underlined in blue pencil and as well as several penciled emendations in Houdini's hand. Houdini's engraved bookplate has been affixed to the front pastedown. Boards and spine rubbed with some wrinkles to cloth, pages lightly toned with some minor tears and creases to front and back endpaper, else very good.


In addition to his status as a master magician and escape artist, Harry Houdini was also a prolific book collector. Predictably, much of his collecting surrounded his professional endeavors. (His library grew so large that in 1920 Houdini hired Alfred Becks, a former theatrical manager who had spent ten years working with Harvard's renowned theater collection, to organize and index it). One of the most significant components of Houdini's library was his collection dedicated to spiritualism: a subject of great interest to Houdini as he sought to unmask fraudulent spiritualists. Indeed the present work confirmed Houdini's general suspicions about spiritualism, an attitude that placed him in direct conflict with Arthur Conan Doyle, an outspoken proponent of the practice.

The present volume was commissioned by Henry Seybert, an ardent believer in spiritualism who, in his will, had bequeathed a large sum of money to the University of Pennsylvania with the proviso that the school commission a scholarly investigation into "modern spiritualism." Seybert would have been disappointed to learn the outcome of the study which failed to discover any scientific support for spiritualism.

Houdini has underlined several portions of the volume that speak to the fraudulent nature of mediums - reinforcing his own beliefs. On page six for example, Houdini highlights a lengthy passage concerning the practice of "Independent Slate Writing," in which the investigators attended a seance hosted by S. E. Patterson, who had been recommended by the noted spiritualist Thomas R. Hazard (who was a personal friend of Seybert's). The authors note that when they attended the seance, held at Hazard's home, the medium made an attempt to contact the spirit of Seybert, but after an hour and a half, nothing happened - much "to the chagrin of Mr. Hazard, who could not understand 'what the deuce was in it, seeing that the Medium was one of the very best in the world, and on the preceding evening, when he was all alone with her, the messages from the spirit of Henry Seybert came thick and fast.'" Beneath that passage, Houdini has written: "See p. 15." There, we find a conclusion that must have satisfied Houdini: "Yet, as a rule, Mediums assert that they invite investigation. Our experience has been... that as soon as an investigation, worthy of the name, begins, all manifestations of Spiritualist power cease... Indeed Mr. Hazard once told us that the true spirit in which to approach the study of Spiritualism is 'an entire willingness to be deceived.'"

Very scarce. Following Houdini's death in 1926, the majority of his magic and spiritualism library, containing nearly 4,000 volumes, was bequeathed to the Library of Congress. His collection of theatrical books and playbills were sold to Messmore Kendall. That collection was later donated to the University of Texas. As Houdini's widow Bess was divvying up the collection, several volumes (including a few duplicates) were given to friends and family. Very few volumes from Houdini's' vast library remain in private hands.

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