Signed book: The Unmasking of Robert–Houdin. NY: The Publishers Printing Company, 1908. Hardcover, 5.75 x 8.25, 333 pages. Signed and inscribed on the first free end page in fountain pen, “To my old friend William Berol, Best wishes from the author, Harry Houdini, June 12—1916.” Autographic condition: fine, with an address stamp to lower left corner of signed page. Book condition: G+/None. Known as ‘The Man with 300,000 Facts in His Head,’ William Berol was a mentalist and the co-author of the 1916 book The Berol System of Memory Training. Devised by Berol and Houdini, a private telegraphic code for signaling messages came into profound play at the scene of Berol’s deathbed. Having made a pact that whomever should perish first would use the code to communicate with the other, Houdini held the palm of his dying friend and noted that ‘just as he passed away I could feel his hand making a faint pressure on mine. That was repeated at intervals and I could recognize that the man who seemed unconscious and at death’s door was talking to me in code.’ This moment proved integral in Houdini’s consideration of the supernatural, a topic he actively sought to discover and debunk. The James Collings Collection.
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