Houdini's tie-cutter manual and other rarities sell at Bonhams

A nice selection of Houdini rarities sold today in Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts auction. While an original annotated typescript for A Magician Among the Spirits was promoted as the auction highlight  (it even made the catalog cover), the item that struck me as the true gem was Houdini's very own 1891 union employee manual from his days as a New York tie-cutter.

HOUDINI'S OWN COPY OF THE TIE-CUTTER'S MANUAL. [HOUDINI, HARRY. 1874 – 1926.] Constitution and By-Laws of the Neckwear Cutters Association of the City of New-York. New York: Wm. B. Bromell, 1891. 32mo (124 x 78 mm). Publisher's printed wrappers, center fold to front cover, two paragraphs bracketed in the margins, possibly in Houdini's hand, pencil note "HOUDINI" to upper cover, portrait of Houdini pasted to rear cover. Provenance: Harry Houdini (letter of provenance from Charles Reynolds, dated May 26, 1999, addressed to:) Doug Edwards; John A. McKinven (sold his sale, Potter & Potter, Chicago, May 13, 2012, lot 240).

HOUDINI'S OWN COPY OF THE REGULATIONS OF THE NECKWEAR CUTTERS ASSOCIATION. From the letter of provenance from Charles Reynolds: "[this manual] was Harry Houdini's own manual when he worked as a tie-cutter for H. Richter's Sons at 502 Broadway, New York City. A page of this manual is picture in the book Houdini, His Legend and His Magic that I co-authored with Doug Henning in 1977. Houdini took special interest in the union's protection of secrecy—an attitude that later affected his outlook on magic." Henning and Reynold's book was heavily illustrated with items from a collection given to Henning by Ruth Kavanaugh, Houdini's niece.

The manual sold for $3,187 including premium.

The annotated A Magician Among the Spirits manuscript sold for $20,312 (inc. premium). A facsimile edition of this manuscript was published in 1996 by Kaufman and Greenberg.

A copperplate for what may be the first illustrated advertisement for "The Houdinis" sold for $5,737 (inc. premium). Bookending that is Houdini's last known full color poster, "Buried Alive!", which sold for $7,650 (inc. premium). 

Congrats to the winners!

Related:

• H. Richter's Sons
• The oldest surviving Houdini poster?
• No sale for Spirits typescript (update)

H. Richter's Sons

Here's a photo of what was once H. Richter's Sons Neckwear factory at 502-504 Broadway. This is where young Ehrich Weiss was employed for two and a half years from 1889 to 1891 as an assistant lining cutter. Today it is the site of Bloomingdale's SoHo.

In a story that sounds a little too cute to be true, it's said that Ehrich got the job at Richter's by spotting a long line of applicants waiting behind a Help Wanted sign. He went to the head of the line, removed the sign, and said in an officious voice that the position had been filled and thanked everyone for coming. When the crowd dispersed, he went inside and landed the job for himself.

Far from being a sweatshop as it was characterized in the 1998 Houdini biopic, Richter's was a good job for a young man at the time. Ehrich was even a member of the Neckwear Makers union (he would continue to keep up his dues into adulthood). The Annual Report on Factory Inspection (Volume 14) for 1900 shows Richter's employed 25 men and 75 women (none under the age of 18); hours of labor were less than other clothing firms; and it had logged only one complaint.

Click to enlarge.

Of course, Ehrich was underage when he worked here, so conditions might have been a little rougher in the early 1890s. It's also said that his elderly father worked a bench for a time. It's interesting to note how many young women Ehrich worked in close proximity with for over 2 years, yet there is not a single recorded date or romantic exploit in his life until Bess in 1894.

But might Richter's play an even more important role in the Houdini story? Recall that it was Ehrich's friend and fellow Richter's employee Jacob Hyman who suggested that he add an "i" to the name of Robert-Houdin to become "Houdini." I've often wondered exactly where this momentous moment happened. Might it have been while working across the bench from each other in this very building?

Was "Houdini" born in Bloomingdale's?

View on Google Maps.

Related:

• Houdini Begins
• Uncovering the grave of Houdini's first "Brother"
• The Modern Monarchs of Mystery
  

Houdini Begins

When did Harry Houdini become a magician? The answer is not always clear. While there are many tales of young Ehrich Weiss performing acrobatics and magic in five cent circuses in Wisconsin, most serious Houdini biographies attribute the start of his magic career with his reading The Memories of Robert-Houdin in 1891.

But according to the remarkable book, Sixty Years of Psychical Research, written by Houdini's boyhood friend Joseph F. Rinn in 1950, Houdini was giving semi-professional magic performances two years before he ever read the Robert-Houdin book. Rinn's recollections begin on page 65:

[In 1886] I joined the Pastime Athletic Club, which had grounds at Sixty-seventh Street and the East River, where I quickly developed as a runner. I became captain of the club and was its champion sprint runner in 1889, when a new member joined by the name of Ehrich Weiss, who later became famous as Harry Houdini, the magician and escape artist.

As Weiss was ambitious to win a running prize, he turned to me as captain for advice, and under my instruction he trained and won his first prize.

At the time, Weiss (or Houdini, as I shall henceforth call him) was making and lining ties at a low wage for H. Richter's Sons. His ambition to be a boy magician was curtailed by lack of funds for the purchase of paraphernalia, for performances he gave after working hours at small social affairs and in public schools.

When Houdini learned that I was a magic fan and a friend of the Herrmanns, we became good pals.

In the spring of 1889 Houdini has another friends in his shop, named Jacob Hayman, who was a magic fan, and they frequently worked together, giving amateur magic performances.

On April 30, 1889, Houdini informed me that he and Jack Hayman were booked to give a magic performance at some social affair. "I guess we'll make a flop of it," said Houdini ruefully, "because we haven't enough paraphernalia."

"Oh, I can remedy that," I said, "Come over to Martinka's with me and I'll make you a present of some magic apparatus. Consider it my Christmas present," I added, as Houdini was quite proud and touchy about money matters."

As this is before Houdini's exposure to Robert-Houdin, I wonder what named he and Jack used at what sounds like their first professional engagement?

Later in the book, Rinn recalls when his friend read that seminal work of magic and truly set off to become a professional magician:

It was early 1891 that Ehrich Weiss read The Memories of Robert Houdin, the French magician, and determined to become a professional magician under the name of Harry Houdini, which name he legally made his own at a later date.

A short time after he made his decision, he said to me, "I've made up my mind, Joe, to quite my job and become a professional magician under the name of Harry Houdini."

"But Ehrich, you are only seventeen," I protested. "Isn't that rather young to give up a good job for an uncertain theatrical career?

Houdini replied, "It may seem daffy to a solid businessman like you, Joe, but I've the urge in my blood to be a professional magician and nothing can stop me."

"Well, it's your funeral, Ehrich," I said resignedly; "but get a recommendation for your present employer in case you can't make a success of being a magician."

A few days later Houdini saw me and reported: "Well, I've quit my job, Joe. I followed your advice and got a recommendation. Here it is." I read the letter, which I now possess.

H. RICHTER'S SONS

502 & 504 Broadway

New York, April 3, 1891.

To Whom It May Concern:

We hereby certify that Mr. Ehrich Weiss has been in our employ for two years and six months as assistant lining cutter and we cheerfully recommend him as an honest, industrious young man.

H. Richter's Sons

It's interesting that this oft quoted recommendation letter found its way into Rinn's collection. He doesn't say how he got it, but I can imagine Houdini giving to it to his friend once he had achieved fame as The Handcuff King. Maybe he even gave it to him as "a Christmas present."

Joseph F. Rinn (Library of Congress Collection)