"IT'S ALL TRUE": 1924 FIRST EDITION OF A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS, EXTRAORDINARY ASSOCIATION COPY INSCRIBED, ANNOTATED, AND THREE TIMES SIGNED, THREE TIMES INITIALED BY HOUDINI

HOUDINI, Harry. A Magician Among the Spirits. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1924. Tall octavo, original blue cloth gilt. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition of Houdini's controversial attack on fraudulent mediums and psychics, a work he described as his "monument," an exceptional and desirable presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Rabbi I. Jesse Bienenfeld, Best wishes & regards from Houdini, October 30, 1925, 'and it's all true.'" Additionally boldly signed with a flourish by Houdini on the dedication page, and again on page 270, the final page of text. With a handwritten comment on page 210 that reads, "Zancig [another magician] has given me a sworn to letter that he fooled Sir A C Doyle and tells me how he did it in spite of the fact that ACD said it was real telepathy. H." Page 264 includes a marginal comment "died 1924 – H.H." And finally on page 206 Houdini has crossed out text from the book and initialed his correction "H.H."

"Houdini, whose real name was Erik Weisz, was one of the most famous magicians and escapologists of all time… In this book, published in 1924, he described the mediums and psychics whom he revealed as fraudulent, exposing the tricks which had convinced many notable scientists and academics… The book is a fascinating account of superstition and gullibility" (Cambridge Library Collection). "No phase of Houdini's career created more controversy and furor than his attacks on fraudulent spirit mediums and psychic swindles… The wave of spiritualism that followed WWI had been fanned to the proportions of a tempest by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he toured America affirming his belief in spirit communication… In taking the opposite side of the question, Houdini automatically plunged himself into something more than a controversy; namely, a full-fledged career" (Gibson & Young, Houdini on Magic, 121-22). Houdini described A Magician Among the Spirits "as his 'monument'… Once again the title had that brash irony that Houdini had made his trademark. A magician could never be among the spirits; the spirits were precisely what the magician dispelled" (Phillips, Houdini's Box). Copyright page with "First Edition" and code "C-Y" indicating publication in March 1924. With 16 photogravure plates, including frontispiece of Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and numerous in-text illustrations; without errata leaf between pages x and xi. Without very scarce dust jacket. Bookplate of recipient Rabbi Jesse Bienenfeld.

Interior clean, small marginal tear to contents page, just a bit of minor edge-wear to cloth, gilt bright. A near-fine and highly desirable inscribed presentation copy.