As it turns out, The Original Houdini Scrapbook by Walter Gibson had just come out on July 10. It was the first of four coffee-table-sized, picture-heavy Houdini books released within a year. A book like this was a dream come true, and I came home with a copy under my arm. I still have that copy, and I still love this book 50 years later.
By the way, Hollywood Boulevard was once a haven for bookstores. Below is a map from the May 9, 1976, Los Angeles Times. Today, only Larry Edmunds remains.
Do you remember when you first got The Original Houdini Scrapbook? Share your memories in the comments below.
Want more? You can read an original review of the book on my Patreon.
I bought my copy then at The Gamblers Bookstore in Las Vegas, which also carried magic books...great year with new and reprinted HH books in the stores.
ReplyDeleteIt was grea all the book and memorabilia stores on Hollywood Blvd., including one run by a HH collector. Pasadena also a had an area with a lot of bookstores together. Anyone remember Acres of Books in Long Beach?
I remember Acres of Books. The HH collector you're thinking of was probably my good buddy Mark who ran Collector's Book Store for many years. Incredible place.
DeleteSorry mine was on eBay years later
ReplyDeleteI love this book!!! Also picked up my copy in the mid 70s. There's a LOT of Houdini in this book. You can't let yourself get hypnotized by the pages and pages of challenges and the the great photos. You have shovel your way in to the written material and facsimiles of the Houdini letters. We were so lucky to have Walter Gibson in the same planet as us.
ReplyDeleteThe book is a great resource. Thank goodness it reproduces the 1898 Welsh Bros contact, because no one seems to know what happened to that! There's also an image in this book that has always intrigued me and have never appeared anywhere else. But I found the original and it will be in my book.
DeleteLove this story….love this book. I got my copy second hand (after learning about it on your blog) and I absolutely treasure it, alongside the others of this timely grouping. I really appreciate its striking color. It is so magnetic.
ReplyDelete—colleen
It's a great cover. The "When Ragtime was magic" tagline was a nod (pander?) to the book Ragtime, which was a bestseller at that time.
DeleteThis was the 3rd Houdini book I added to my library as a kid, the first two being Dover’s “Houdini on Magic” and “The Secrets of Houdini” and the 4th being F&W's "Houdini's Escapes and Magic"
ReplyDeleteI love that you remember your order. For me, I got Houdini on Magic and the Gresham book on the same day. The Secrets of Houdini was probably very close. Also the Epstein/Williams book.
DeleteI moved to LA in 1977 and remember the great book shops on Hollywood Boulevard. I got my copy of the Houdini Scrapbook, years later, from a used book seller at Melrose Flea Market. Great find !
ReplyDeleteYes, 1977 was a golden age for Hollywood bookstores. Lasted all through the 80s. I think the dropoff started in the '90s with the coming of Amazon and eBay.
DeleteI remember the Hollywood Bookstore. I was there in August 1974. They had for sale 1st editions of the Oz books in near mint condition for $50ea, tv show scripts, Life magazines from the 30's &40's, old movie magazines. Have a HB copy (second edition) and 1st ed of the sb copy signed by Walter Gibson.
ReplyDeleteThe bookstores were dazzling. You could find signed Houdini books, original Grim Game lobby cards, etc.
Deletei met Ray Bradbury at one of the bookstores on Hollywood Blvd. about 1990 or 91. Also spent a lot of time at Baroque hoping to meet Bukowski but he never came in when i was there. Those were better times. i hope Illiad is still around.
DeleteThe Illiad is still around. It moved, but it's great as ever.
DeleteMy copy was from Walden Books in the Whitehall Mall. Paperback. 1977 I believe. I still have it of course :)
ReplyDeleteThe paperback was what I first got as well. It may have been first released in paperback and then hardcover. At least I didn't know there was a hardcover for years.
Deletei was fortunate enough to get a hardcover of the Scrapbook, don't remember the name of the store i got it at but it was my favorite of the three magic stores in my town. This was the third Houdini book i owned -though i found Gresham, Epstein, and Kendall at the library. My first was Cannell which i found in a mail-order novelty catalogue. It advertised: Houdini's Secrets Revealed! i sent in my three dollars money order, not knowing what to expect, and a few weeks later The Secrets of Houdini book was in my mailbox. Haven't seen my Scrapbook since i left home at 17 but my brother tells me he still has it.
ReplyDeleteNice memory of the Cannell book. Love that you got the Scrapbook in a magic shop. I don't recall ever seeing it for sale in any of my local magic shops.
DeleteThis was my very first Houdini book, the hardback, and I still have it. I was around 10 or 11 years old, and my mom got it for me. I don’t remember where she bought it, but I sure remember the indescribably happy feeling I got when I received it. I couldn’t put it down and used to draw Houdini using photos in the book as my guide. In fact, one of the photos still has some pencil marks on it from the grid method I used to keep proportions accurate. I also photocopied many things from that book over my childhood years, including photos I used in a Houdini/magic collage. And that book was actually one of two that inspired me to start my own scrapbooks and collect magic. The other was The Magic Catalogue, by Bill Doerflinger. Thanks for this tribute, John.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great first book, Tom! Love that you still have it. I also used to draw pictures of Houdini. I would work on them for days.
DeleteI checked it out from my local library in the 70s along with every other book on Houdini they had. I bought a copy years later but I cannot recall where amd when exactly. I still have it. Great book! My first book was the Dover secrets of Houdini.
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