Robert-Houdin, Jean Eugene & Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie (editor): Memoirs of Robert-Houdin ©1859 Geo. G. Evans, Publisher, Philadelphia Hardcover, 445 pages Robert-Houdin, Jean Eugene & Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie: Life of Robert-Houdin The King of the Conjurers ©1859 Alta Edition, Porter & Coates, Philadelphia Hardcover Memoirs of Robert Houdin ©1944 Carl W. Jones, Minneapolis

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Comments:There have been multiple editions of this book with slightly varying titles. More recently, Dover published an edition translated by Lascelles Wraxall and with a new introduction and notes by Milbourne Christopher.

Contents:

17 Chapter I
My Birth And Parentage
My Home
The Lessons Of Colonel Bernard
Paternal Ambition
My First Mechanical Attempts
Had I But A Rat!
A Prisoner’S Industry
The Abbe Lariviere
My Word Of Honor
Farewell To My Darling Tools

26 Chapter II
A Country Idler
Dr. Carlosbach, Conjurer And Professor Of Mystification
The Sand-Bag And The Stirrup Trick
I Turn Lawyer’s Clerk, And The Minutes Appear To Me Very Long
A Small Automaton
A Respectful Protest
I Mount A Step In The Office
A Machine Of Porter’s Power
The Acrobatic Canaries
Monsieur Roger’s Remonstrances
My Father Decides That I Shall Follow My Bent

42 Chapter III
My Cousin Robert
The Most Important Event In My Life
How A Man Becomes A Sorcerer
My First Sleight-Of-Hand Feat
An Utter Failure
Practising The Eye And The Hand
Curious Experiment In Prestidigitation
Monsieur Noriet
An Action More Ingenious Than Delicate
I Am Poisoned
Influence Of Delirium

55 Chapter IV
I Return To Life
A Strange Doctor
Torrini And Antonio: A Conjurer And A Fanatic For Music
A Murderer’s Confession
A Perambulating House
The Fair At Angers
A Portable Theatre
I Witness For The First Time A Conjuring Performance
The Blind Man’S Game At Piquet—A Dangerous Rival
Signor Castelli Eats A Man Alive

73 Chapter V
Antonio’s Confessions
How To Gain Public Applause
The Count De, Mountebank
I Repair An Automaton
A Mechanician’s Shop On Wheels
Nomadic Life
Happy Existence
Torrini’s Lessons
His Opinions About Sleight-Of-Hand
A Fashionable Greek, Victim Of His Own Swindling
The Conjurer Comus
A Duel At Piquet
Torrini Proclaimed Conqueror
Revelations
New Catastrophe
Poor Torrini!

90 Chapter VI
Torrini Relates His Life
Treachery Of Chevalier Pinetti
A Conjurer Through Malice
A Race Between Two Magicians
Death Of Pinetti
Exhibits Before Pius Vii.
The Cardinal’s Chronometer
Twelve Hundred Francs Spent On A Trick
Antonio And Antonia
The Most Bitter Of Mystifications
Constantinople
 
121 Chapter VII
Continuation Of Torrini’s History
The Grand Turk Orders A Performance
A Marvellous Trick
A Page Cut In Two
Pitying Protest Of The Harem
Agreeable Surprise
Return To France
Torrini’s Son Killed
Madness
Decay
My First Performance
An Annoying Accident
I Return Home

136 Chapter VIII
The Prodigal Son
Mademoiselle Houdin
I Go To Paris
My Marriage
Comte
Studies Of The Public
A Skillful Manager
Rose-Colored Tickets
A Musky Style
The King Of Hearts
Ventriloquism
The Mystifiers Mystified
Father Roujol
Jules De Rovere
Origin Of The Word Prestidigitateur

155 Chapter IX
Celebrated Automata
A Brazen Fly
The Artificial Man
Albertus Magnus And St. Thomas D’Aquinas
Vaucanson
His Duck
His Flute-Player
Curious Details
The Automaton Chess-Player
Interesting Episode
Catherine Ii. And M. De Kempelen
I Repair The Componium
Unexpected Success

176 Chapter X
An Inventor’S Calculations
One Hundred Thousand Francs A Year By An Inkstand: Deception
My New Automata
The First Magician In France: Decadence
I Meet Antonio Bosco
The Trick With The Cups
An Execution
Resurrection Of The Criminals
Mistake In A Head
The Canary Rewarded

192 Chapter XI
A Reverse Of Fortune
Cookery And Clockwork
The Artist’s Home
Invention Of An Automaton
Voluntary Exile
A Modest Villa
The Inconveniences Of A Speciality
Two August Visitors
The Throat Of A Mechanical Nightingale
The Tiou And The Rrrrrrrrouit
Seven Thousand Francs Earned By Making Filings

221 Chapter XII
The Inventive Genius Of A Sugar-Baker
Philippe The Magician
His Comic Adventures
Description Of His Performance
Exposition Of 1844
The King And Royal Family Visit My Automata

234 Chapter XIII
My Proposed Reforms
I Build A Theatre In The Palais Royal
Formalities
General Rehearsal
Singular Effect Of My Performance
The Largest And Smallest Theatre In Paris
Tribulation
My First Performance
Panic
Discouragement
A Fallible Prophet
Recovery
Success

253 Chapter XIV
New Studies
A Comic Journal
Invention Of Second Sight
Curious Experiments
An Enthusiastic Spectator
Danger Of Being A Sorcerer
A Philter Or Your Life
Way To Get Rid Of Bores
An Electric Touch
I Perform At The Vaudeville
Struggles With The Incredulous
Interesting Details

273 Chapter XV
Seductions Of A Theatrical Agent
How To Gain One Hundred Thousand Francs
I Start For Brussels
A Lucky Two-Sou Piece
Miseries Of Professional Travelling
The Park Theatre
Tyranny Of A Porter
Full House
Small Receipts
Deceptions
Return To Paris

294 Chapter XVI
Reopening Of My Fantastic Soirees
Minor Miseries Of Good Luck
Inconvenience Of A Small Theatre
My Room Taken By Storm
A Gratuitous Performance
A Conscientious Audience
Pleasant Story About A Black Silk Cap
I Perform At The Chateau Of St. Cloud
Cagliostro’s Casket
Holidays

312 Chapter XVII
New Experiments
Aerial Suspension, &C
A Performance At The Odeon
A Friend In Need
1848
The Theatre Deserted
I Leave Paris For London
Manager Mitchell
Publicity In England
The Great Wizard
A Butter-Mould Used As A Puff
Singular Bills
A Prize For The Best Pun

330 Chapter XVIII
The St. James’S Theatre
Invasion Of England By French Performers
A Fete Patronised By The Queen
The Diplomatist And The Sleight-Of-Hand Man
Three Thousand Pounds Taken At One Haul
I Perform At Manchester
The Spectators In The Pillory
What Capital Curacoa!
A Torrent Of Wine
A Catastrophe
Performance At Buckingham Palace
A Wizard’s Repast

359 Chapter XIX
An Optimist Manager
Three Spectators In A Room
A Magical Collation
The Colchester Public And The Nuts
I Return To France
I Give Up My Theatre
A Farewell Tour
I Retire To St. Gervais
An Academician’S Predictions

371 Chapter XX
Travels In Algeria
Convocation Of The Chieftains
Performances Before The Arabs
A Kabyle Rendered Powerless
Invulnerability
A Moor Disappears
Panic And Flight Of The Audience
Reconciliation
The Sect Of Aissaoua
Their Pretended Miracles

398 Chapter XXI
Excursion In The Interior Of Africa
The Abode Of A Bash-Aga
A Comical Repast
A Soiree Of Arab Dignitaries
A Marabout Mystified
Tent-Life In Algeria
I Return To France
A Terrible Storm

420 Conclusion

422 Chapter XXII A Course of Miracles
423 Thrusting a Dagger Into the Cheek
423 Eating the Leaves of the Prickly Pear
424 Laying the Stomach on the Edge of a Sabre
424 Playing With Serpents
425 Striking the Arm, Causing the Blood to Flow, and Stopping it Instantenseously
425 Eating Pounded Glass
426 Swallowing Pebbles, Bottle-Heels, &c.
427 The Sabre Swallower
429 Thrusting a Needle into the Eye
430 Walking on Red-Hot Iron
431 Passing the Tongue Over a White Hot Plate of Iron
432 Mr. Boutigny

437 Index