$43,000
Houdini, Harry. Massive Scrapbook Compiled by Houdini Of His Own Publicity and Press Clippings. 1900 – 20 (bulk 1914 – 18). Black leather covers, Houdini’s name stamped in gilt on front. Approximately 112 leaves, disbound, edges brittle and torn. Filled to overflowing with clippings from across America, Great Britain, and Germany, ranging from challenge advertisements to news accounts, commentary and editorials, cartoons and caricatures, movie advertisments, blurbs, articles by Houdini, poems and rhymes, articles on imitators, and more, many accompanied by photographs or illustrations, and scores of them annotated by Houdini, spanning approximately twenty years and including some of the earliest coverage he garnered. An important archive shedding light on the value Houdini placed on media attention as a source of buzz, as a measure of success, and as a force that would shape his place in popular culture. The annotations, most in black ink, a few typed, generally note the date and publication from which the clipping is drawn, and some are initialed by Houdini. In other cases Houdini adds information about the content of the clipping or how the clipping itself was transmitted (multiple handwritings appear in the scrapbook and a portion of clippings appear to have been sent from clipping services, friends, and fellow performers, including, in one case as Houdini notes, the magician Carl Hertz). Above an article on the “Code of Morals” adopted by Boston’s playhouses, stipulating
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2016-04-09
