This week I received my copy of A Strenuous Career: The Personal Challenge and Advertisment Scrapbook of Harry Houdini by Dr. Bruce J. Averbook and David Haversat. It's a beauty. In fact, I hated to take it out of the plastic!
Not to play favorites, but this is the 2026 book that I was most excited to receive. That's because I knew this important scrapbook existed, but I had never seen it. It was owned by Sid Radner for many years. When Sid's son Bill inherited it, I heard talk that he was considering turning it into a book. This might have even been his father's idea that he wanted to carry forward. But it never happened. When Bruce Averbook acquired it, I got a quick peek at it at his museum. I was very excited when he said
he now planned to turn it into a book (along with a certain
diary).
This time it happened! Dreams do come true.
The book is a slipcased hardcover printed on very high-quality, full-color paper. Bruce provides an introductory overview of Houdini's career challenges, along with some rare photos from his collection. Apart from that, the scrapbook speaks for itself. Every page of the scrapbook is reproduced, and every challenge tells a story. It's also fascinating to see how meticulously Houdini chronicled his career. The front of the scrapbook contains an index of all the challenges handwritten by Houdini himself. The challenges span Houdini's entire career, so this isn't A challenge scrapbook; it's THE challenge scrapbook, which is one of the reasons it's so perfect to publish as a standalone book.
I've already spotted some rare gems, including what I believe is Houdini's first full-view straight jacket escape. The challenge doesn't actually say this, but given the timeline, I think I can see exactly what Houdini has in mind. I'm also very excited to finally see the Scottish Gibbet challenge!
The book is published and sold exclusively by
David Haversat's 1878 Press, with a print run of only 300 copies. That's a pretty small, and I have a feeling this will sell out by Halloween, if not sooner. So if you are interested in owning Houdini's Challenge scrapbook, I wouldn't delay.
Thank you, David and Bruce!
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