Harry Houdini

Signed book: Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Expose of the Modus Operandi of Fire Eaters, Heat Resisters, Poison Eaters, Venomous Reptile Defiers, Sword Swallowers, Human Ostriches, Strong Men, Etc. First edition. NY: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1920. Hardcover, 5.5 x 8.25, 240 pages. Signed nicely on the first free end page in black ink, “Best wishes, Houdini, ‘and it’s all true,’ July 28/1925.” Autographic condition: fine, with a bit of light soiling. Book condition: VG-/None, with bumped corners.

Following the death of his mother in 1913, Harry Houdini began to investigate spiritualism and soon became an all-out crusader against it. Early in 1924, he began lecturing throughout the United States on fraudulent mediums. In city after city, he attended séances in disguise, exposing frauds on the spot and sometimes securing their arrest, aided by his personal squad of detectives. The raids brought him huge publicity as well as a million dollars in lawsuits.' In Miracle Mongers, Houdini—who was a collector of notebooks, manuscripts, and artifacts related to magic and illusion—divulges the 'modus operandi of fire-eaters, heat resisters, poison eaters, venomous reptile defiers, sword swallowers, human ostriches [and] strong men.'