THE SECRETS
OF
STAGE CONJURING.
[Illustration: ROBERT-HOUDIN.]
THE SECRETS
OF
STAGE CONJURING
BY ROBERT-HOUDIN
TRANSLATED AND EDITED, WITH NOTES
BY
PROFESSOR HOFFMANN
AUTHOR OF “MODERN MAGIC.”
[Illustration]
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
1900.
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME._
=THE SECRETS OF CONJURING AND MAGIC.= By ROBERT-HOUDIN. Translated
and Edited, with Notes, by PROFESSOR HOFFMANN. With numerous
Illustrations.
=DRAWING-ROOM AMUSEMENTS AND EVENING PARTY ENTERTAINMENTS.= By
PROFESSOR HOFFMANN. Third Edition. 512 pages.
PREFACE
TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.
[Illustration]
In the volume published by Robert-Houdin under the title of _Les
Secrets de la Prestidigitation et de la Magie_,[1] the author expressed
his intention of issuing at an early date a sequel to that work.
Death unhappily prevented his carrying his design into execution; but
he left behind him materials sufficient, if not, as he had wished,
for an exhaustive treatise on the art of conjuring, at least for the
compilation of a new work of a highly interesting character.
It is this posthumous work which is now offered to the public. Not only
is it both instructive and amusing, as revealing the curious secrets
of the professional wizard, but, further, with the aid of the diagrams
with which the text is illustrated, it will enable the hitherto
uninitiated to repeat on their own account those experiments which
Robert-Houdin modestly describes as “tricks,” but which are in reality
marvellous applications of mechanical and physical science, worthy in
many instances of the genius of a Vaucanson.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] An English version of the above extremely interesting work, by the
present translator, is published by Messrs. George Routledge and Sons,
under the title of “The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic.”
CONTENTS.
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CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE THEATRE OF ROBERT-HOUDIN 9