12 - Unmasking of Robert-Houdin by Harry Houdini

In Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, Harry Houdini embarks on a provocative journey to challenge the legacy of the man he once idolized, the esteemed magician Robert-Houdin. Initially inspired by Houdins brilliance, Houdini adopted his name, adding an i to pay homage. However, feeling slighted by the Robert-Houdin family, he penned this work as a means to dismantle their revered image. Ironically, Houdinis efforts to discredit his predecessor backfired, leading to unexpected revelations. Join us as we explore the intricate relationship between two of magics greatest figures. - Summary by Cavaet

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section twelve of The Unmasquing of Robert Houdin. The cis
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Recording by Caveat The Unmasking of Robert Houdin by Harry Houdini,

(00:20):
Chapter eleven. The narrowness of Robert Houdin's memoirs. The charm
of true memoirs lies far beyond the printed pages, in
the depth and breadth of the writer's soul. The greatest
of all autobiographies are those which detail not only the
lives of the men who pen them, but which abound
in diverting anecdotes and character studies of the men and

(00:44):
women among whom the writer moved. They are not autobiographies alone,
but vivid, broad minded pen pictures of the period in
which the writer was a vigorous, respected, compelling figure. Memoirs
written with a view to settling old scores seldom lived
to accomplish the ends. The narrowness and pettiness of the writer,
which intelligent reading of history is bound to disclose, destroys

(01:06):
all other charms which the book may possess at personal exploitation.
Brobert Houddin is a brilliant success as a writer of memoirs,
he is a wretched failure. Whenever he writes of himself,
his pen seems fairly to scintillate. When he refers to
other magicians of his times, his pen lags and drops
on the page's blots, which can emanate only from a narrow,

(01:29):
petty jealous nature. Even when he writes of his own family,
this peculiar trait of petty egotism may be read between
the lines. He mentions the name of his son Emil,
apparently because the lad shared his stage triumphs his other children.
He never mentions by name the second wife, who he
grudgingly admits stood valiantly by him in his days of

(01:51):
poverty and disappointment. Does not honor by so much as
stating her name before marriage. Rather, he refers to her
as a person whom he was constrained to place and
charge of his household in order that he might continue
his experiments and work on his automaton. A less gracious
tribute to wifely devotion has never appenned, but it is

(02:11):
in dealing with contemporary magicians or those whose handiwork in
bygone years he cleverly purloined and proclaimed as his own
original inventions. That the petty jealousy of the man comes
to the surface whenever he desires to claim for himself
credit due to a predecessor in the world of magic,
either ignores the man's very existence, or writes of his
competitor in such a manner that the latter standing as

(02:33):
a man and magician is lowered. Not that he makes broad,
sweeping statements. Rather he indulges in the innuendo, which is
far more dangerous to the party attacked. He never strikes
a pen blow, which, because of its brutality, might arouse
the sympathy of his readers for the object of his attack.
Here in the gentle art of innuendo and belittling, if

(02:54):
not in the conjurer's art, Robert Houdin is a master.
In writing his memoirs. He deliberately ignores Compere's Hermann. Here
Robin will Jabbar, Frickle, M. Jacobs, and P. T. Barnum,
all of whom he knew personally. He might have written
most entertainingly of these men, but in each case he

(03:16):
had an object in avoiding reference to the acquaintance P. T.
Barnum knew the true history of the writing and drawing
figure as reference in chapter three of this book will show.
Frickle was the pioneer in dispensing with cumbersome stage draperies.
Robert Houdin claimed this innovation of the product of his
own ingenuity. Comtpesz Hermann was playing in London when Robert

(03:36):
Houdin made his English debut under Mitchell's direction, and was
presenting trick for trick, the repertoire claimed by Robert Houddin
as original with him. Henri Robin disputed Robert Houdin's claim
to have invented the inexhaustible bottle and proved his case,
as will be seen by reference of Chapter eight. Jacob

(03:56):
was one of Anderson's cleverest imitators and arrival of Robert
Hodain in the English Provinces. The adroit manner in which
Robert Houddin flays Pinetti, Anderson and Bosco would arouse admiration
were his pen lashings devoted to men who deserved such
treatment under existing circumstances. His debt to Bosco and Pinetti,

(04:17):
whose tricks he filched remorselesly and the fact that Anderson's
popularity outlived his own in England. His efforts to belittle
these men are unworthy of one who called himself a
man and a master magician. The truly great and successful
man rises above petty jealousies and personalities. This Robert Houdain
could not do, even when he sat pen in hand

(04:38):
in retirement, with the fear of competition removed. It seems
almost incredible that Robert Houdain should ignore Honri Robert in
his memoirs, For Robert was one of the most interesting
characters of that day. He still stands in magic's history
as the Chesterfield of conjuring, a man of many gifts,
charming address, and broader education. Even in his dispute with

(05:00):
Robert Houddin regarding the invention of the inexhaustible bottle, he
never forgot his dignity, but proved his case by that
most potent of arguments, a well edited magazine published under
his direction, in which an illustration showed him actually performing
the trick in eighteen forty four, or a full three
years before it appeared on Robert Houddin's program. Robert Houddain

(05:21):
was indebted to Robain for another trick, the guard Francaise,
introduced by Robert Houddin in October eighteen forty seven. Manrie
Robert had precisely the same figure doing precisely the same
feats in the garb of an arab An. Illustration from
Robert's magazine Almanak Cagliostra shows Robert offering this figure in

(05:42):
March eighteen forty six, or a year and seven months
before it was presented by Robert Houddin. Yet the only
reference made by Robert Houdain to this popular and gifted
contemporary is in the Secrets of Stage Conjuring, where he
remarks slightingly that Robert spoiled mister Pepper's business by giving
a poor imitation of the latter's ghost show. Again, in

(06:05):
ignoring Herman, he proves this narrowness of mind his utter
unwillingness to admit any ability in his rivals comparres. Hermann
was no ordinary strickster or Mountebank, but a conjurer who
remained in London almost a year, playing the very best houses,
and later scoring equal popularity in the provinces. He was
decorated by various monarchs and was famous for his large

(06:26):
gifts to charity. Even in the present generation, including theatergoers
and students of magic, remembers the name of herman. When
Robert Houdin is forgotten or would be but for his
cleverly written autobiography, will Jobard Frickle, to whom should go
the credit of cutting out heavy stage draperies, never claimed

(06:46):
the innovation as a carefully planned conceit, but as an accident.
His paraphernavia were destroyed in a fire, but desired to
live up to his contract and gave a performance as announced.
He therefore offered slight of hand, pure and simple, with
the aid of tables, chairs, and other common properties which
were absolutely undraped. He was also compelled to don regulation

(07:07):
severely plain evening clothes. The absence of draperies, which naturally
aid a conjurer in obtaining results, created so pleasing a
sensation that Frickle never again draped his stage nor wore
any fancy raiment. And Robert Houdan told the truth about
his so called innovation, he must have given Frickle credit,
wherefore he conveniently ignores Frickle completely. It is entirely characteristic

(07:32):
of Robert Houdin that he did not openly assail Pinetti
in the pages of his memoirs with cleverness worthy of
a better cause. He quotes the bit of verbal attack
as issued from the lips of the friend and mentor
of his youth, Signor Tourini. The major portion of chapter six,
pages ninety two to one hundred four inclusive American edition

(07:52):
of his autobiography is devoted to assailing Pinetti's abilities as
a conjurer and his reputation as a man. Granted that
Petti did put Tourhini to shame on the Neapolitan stage,
such revenge for a wholesale duplication of the magician's tricks
might be turned almost human and natural. Had a minor magician,
amateur or professional doged the footsteps of Robert Houdin, copying

(08:16):
his tricks, the entire repertoire upon which he depended for
a livelihood, thus endangering his future, I doubt that even
the author of confidences to own prediciteur would have hesitated
to a mask and undo his rival. In fact, by
reference to the editorial note foot of page four hundred
and twenty one American edition of Robert Houdin's memoirs. It

(08:37):
will be seen that in eighteen fifty Robert Houddin appealed
to the law for protection. In such a case, an
employee was sent to prison for two years as judgment
to selling to an amateur some of his master's tricks.
But in attacking Panetti, Robert Houddan goes a step too
far and falsifies not directly but by innuendo when he

(08:58):
permits the impression to go forth at Pinetti was hounded
and ruined both financially and professionally by Turini. As is
set forth on page one hundred and four, he pictures
Turini as dogging the steps of Pinetti through all Italy
and finally driving him, in the state of abject misery,
to Russia, where he died in the home of a
nobleman who sheltered him through sheer compassion. Revert. Houdin must

(09:21):
have known this was absolutely untrue, for he quotes Robertson,
who published Parnette's true experiences in Russia. Pnetti took a
fortune with him to Russia, acquired more welfare, and then
lost his entire financial holdings through his passion for balloon experiments.
As has set forth in chapter two of this book,
then to show his own inconsistency. After picturing Pinnetti and

(09:42):
his memoirs as a charlatan, a conjurer of vulgar, uncouth pretensions,
rather than as a good showman of real ability, Rovert
Down is forced to admit on page twenty five of
Secrets of Magic that later conjurers employed Pinetti programs as
a foundation upon which their performances were built. Even here, however,
Robert hou Dan fails to acknowledge an iota of the

(10:03):
heavy debt which he personally owed the despised Chevalier Pinetti.
Robert Houdin devotes the greater part of chapter ten American
edition of his autobiography to belittling Bosco, a conjurer whose
popularity all over Europe was long lived. First, he pictures
Bosco as a most cruel creature who literally tortured to

(10:23):
death the birds used in his performances. Here, as in
his attack on Pinetti, Robert Houdin throws the responsibility for
criticism on the shoulders of another. His old friend, Antonio,
accompanies him to watch Bosco's performance, and it is Antonio
throughout the narrative who inveighs against Bosco's cruelty, and Antonio,
who insists upon leaving before the performance closes because the

(10:46):
cruelty of the conjurer nauseates him. At that time, no
society for the protection of animals exist in and even
if it had a doubt whether Bosco's performance would have
come under the ban. Certain magicians of today employed many
of Bosco's tricks, in which birds and even small animals
are used. But the conjuring is so deftly done that
the public of nineteen oh seven, like that of eighteen

(11:08):
thirty eight, thinks it at all slight of hand work,
and that the birds neither hurt nor killed. Even in
Bosco's time, the bird trick was not in his repertoire exclusively.
All English magicians employed it. Apparently the head of a
fowl was amputated, but often in reality he was touched
under the wing, and the head and neck of another
file was shown by sleight of hand. Quite probably the

(11:31):
Parisian public did not consider Bosco cruel Robert Houddan and
his friend Antonio, being versed in sleight of hand and
country methods, read cruelty between the deft movements. Certain it
is that the name of Bosco has not been handed
down to posterity by other writers as a synonym of cruelty.
The animus of Robert Houddan's attack on Bosco is evident

(11:53):
at every point of the narrative. Now he accuses him
of bad taste in appearing in the box office. Again,
he suggests the somewhat impressive opening of Bosco's act savors
of both Charlatanism and burlesque, when in reality, the secret
of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but
what the mystery loving public thinks you do. Bosco undoubtedly

(12:15):
secured precisely effect he desired. Because Rebert Houdin devotes more
than a page to a most unnecessary attempt to explain
away what he considered Bosco's undeserved popularity. Bosco was not
only a clever magician, but a man of many adventures,
so that his life reads like a romance. This soldier
of fortune, Bartolomeo Bosco was born of a noble Piedmont

(12:40):
family on January the eleventh, seventeen ninety three, in Turin, Italy.
From boyhood he showed great ability as a necromancer, but
in the age of nineteen he was forced to serve
on Napoleon the First In the Russian campaign, he was
a fusilier in the eleventh Infantry, and at the Battle
of Borodino was injured in an engagement with the Cossacks.
Tised by a lance. He lay upon the ground, apparently dead.

(13:03):
A Cossack callossly roamed among the dead and dying, rifling
pockets and belts. When he came to the form of Bosco,
the youth feigned to death, knowing that resistance to ghoul
meant a death wound. But while the Cossack robbed the
Italian soldier, the latter stealthily raised his unwounded arm and
by slight of hand rifled the well filled pockets of
the ghoul, which fact was not discovered by the Cossack

(13:26):
until he was far from the field of the dead
and dying, where he had left one of the enemy
considerably better off thanks to Bosco's conjuring gifts. Later, Bosco
was sent captive to Siberia, where he perfected his slight
of hand while amusing fellow prisoners and jailers. In eighteen fourteen,
he was released and returned to his native land, where
he studied medicine, but eventually decided to become a public entertainer.

(13:50):
He was not only a clever entertainer, but a good
business man, and he planned each year on saving enough
money to ensure a life of ease in his old age.
But events intervened to ruin all his well laid plans.
The sins of his youth brought their penalty. An eligitimate son,
Eugene became a heavy drag upon the retired Pygian, who
was compelled to pay large sums to the young man

(14:11):
in order to prevent his playing in either France or Germany,
or assuming the name of Bosco. In a German antiquaries
shop at Bonn on the Rhine, I found an agreement
to which Bosco agreed to pay this youth five thousand
francs when not using the name of Bosco. This agreement
is too long for reproduction in this volume, but unquestionably

(14:31):
it is genuine and tells all too eloquently the troubles
which beset Bosco in his old age. Eugene was said
to be the superior of his famous father in slight
of hand, but he was wild and given to excess
women and wine. Checked what might have been a brilliant
professional career, disabled, poverty stricken and respected by none. He
soon disappeared from the conjuring world, and, according to Carl

(14:54):
Willmann in the Zabeveldt, he died miserably in Hungary in
eighteen ninety one. In the meantime, Bosco and his wife
lived in poverty in Dresden, where the once brilliant conjurer
died March second, eighteen sixty three. His wife died three
years later and was interred in the grave with her
husband in a cemetery in the friedrich Strasser. There was

(15:17):
nothing on the tombstone to indicate the double interment, and
I discovered the fact only by investigating the municipal and
cemetery records. Here also I learned that the grave had
merely been leased, and as the least was about to expire,
the bones of the great Conjura and his faithful wife
might soon be disinterred and reburied in a neglected corner
of the graveyard devoted to the poor and unclaimed dead.

(15:39):
To prevent this, I purchased a lot and tombstone and
presented the same to the Society of American Magicians, of
which organization at the present writing, I am a member,
a man of noble birth and brilliant attainments. Was the
original Bosco, and his name became a byword all over
the continent, as a synonym not of cruelty, but of
clever desas exception. Yet never has posterity put the name

(16:02):
of a great performance to such ignoble use. For who
has not heard the cry of the modern Bosco Eat
them alive? Today I can close my eyes and summon
two visions. First, I see myself standing bare headed before
a neglected grave in the quiet cemetery on the friedrich
strassat Dresden, the sunlight pouring down upon the tombstone, which

(16:23):
bears not only the cup and balls and wand insignia
of Bosco's most famous trick, but this inscription. Ye see
a reposed la celebe Bartolomeo Bosco near turin the eleven
jan Viere, seventeen ninety three, Desidi a Dresden lump two
Mars eighteen sixty three. The history of this clever conjura,

(16:47):
with all its lights and shadows, sweeks before me like
a mental panorama. The second vision carries me into the country,
to the affairs of England, on the side shows of America. Bosco, Bosco,
Ema Live Bossco. You can't afford to miss this marvel
Bossco Bosco. Follow me into the enclosure and gaze down
into a den, and there lies a half naked human being.

(17:10):
His hair is long and matted. A loincloth does wretched,
duteous clothing. Torn sandals are on his feet. The eulogistic
lecturer dilates upon the powers of his twentieth century Bosco,
But you do not listen. Your fascinated gaze is fixed
on various hideous, wriggling, writhing forms on the floor of
the den, snakes, scores of them. Now the creature, half animal,

(17:34):
half human, glances up to make sure that attention is
riveted upon him, then grasp one of the serpents in
his hideous hands, and in a flash, bites his head off.
The writhing body falls back to the ground. You grip
the raining in a sudden faintness, as your brain deceived
your eyes or your eyes your brain. If you are

(17:54):
a conjurer, you try to convince yourself that is all
a clever sleight of hand exhibition, but in your heart
you know it is not true. This creature so near
a beast has debauched his manhood for a few poultry dollars,
and in dragging himself down, has dragged down the name
of a worthy, a brilliant, a world famous performer of
the twentieth century. Boscoes. There are a las many. You

(18:16):
will find them all over the world in street carnival,
side shows, fairbooths and museums. And why the public supports
such debasing exhibitions I have not been able to understand.
I have seen half starved Russians pick food from refuse barrels.
I have seen besotted Americans creep out from low dives
to draw the dregs of beer barrels into tomato cans.

(18:39):
I have seen absinthe fiends in Paris trade body and
soul to obtain their beloved stimulant. I have heard morphine
fiends in Russia promise to exhibit the effect of the
needle in return for the price of an injection. But
never has my soul so risen in revolt as at
sight of this bestial exhibition with which the name Bosco,

(18:59):
and nobleman and a conjurer of merit has been linked.
Even more despicable than his attack upon Bosco is Robert
Houdin's flaying of John Henry Anderson. In this he is
both unmanly and untruthful. Hinging his attack on his surprise
that the press methods and advertising adopted in England as
opposed to the less spectacular means employed in France, insinuates

(19:22):
that Anderson's entire success was built not upon merit ability, originality,
or diversified programs, but solely upon sensational advertising. On page
three hundred twenty five of the American edition of his Memoirs,
Robert Houddan writes thus of his competitor, on my arrival
in England, a conjurer of the name of Anderson, who

(19:44):
assumed the title of the Great Wizard of the North,
had been performing for a long period at the Little
Strand Theatre. This artist, fearing doubtlessly that public attention might
be divided, tried to crush the publicity of my performances.
Hence he sent out on London Street a cavalcade. Thus organized,
four enormous carriages covered with posters and pictures representing all

(20:05):
sorts of witchcraft. Opened the procession, then followed four and
twenty merry men, each bearing a banner which was painted
a letter a yard in height. At each cross road.
The four carriages stopped side by side and presented a
bill some twenty five yards in length, while all the
men I should say letters, on receiving the word of command,
drew themselves up in a line like the vehicles seen

(20:27):
in front of the letters. Formed this raise the celebrated Anderson,
while on the other side of the banners could be read
the great Wizard of the North. Unfortunately for the Wizard,
his performances were attacked by a mortal disease. Too long
a stay in London had ended by producing saiety. Besides,
his repertory was out of date and could not contend

(20:48):
against the new tricks which I was offering. What could
he present to the publican opposition to the second site,
the suspension and the inexhaustible bottle. Hence he was obliged
to close his theater and start for the provinces, where
a man as usual to make excellent receipts owing to
his powerful means of notoriety. In the first place, Robert
Houdan insinuates that when they played in opposition, John Henry

(21:10):
Anderson's repertoire was stale and uninteresting, it is possible that
Rovert Houdin could not read Anderson's bills, or were his
statements deliberate falsehoods emanating from a malicious, wilful desire to
injure Anderson. What did Anderson have to offer in opposition
to Robert Houdin's much volatain suspension Second Sight and Inexortible Bottle?

(21:30):
Consult the Anderson program reproduced, and you will see that
the great Wizard of the North duplicated the French conjurer's repertoire.
The ethereal suspension of Robert Houdin's program was suspension Chlorofini
on Anderson's second site, appeared on both bills. The inexhaustible
Bottle had wisely been dropped by Anderson because he had
been using it in one form or another for ten
years preceding the date Robert Houdin appeared in London, as

(21:53):
is proven in Chapter nine of this book. Therefore, if
Anderson's program was passe, an inter so also must have
been the one offered by Robert Houdin. Second John Henry
Anderson was not in London when Robert Houdin arrived there
in May eighteen forty eight. He was on the continent,
and a bill reproduced Will showed that he was in

(22:15):
Germany in January eighteen forty eight and did not open
at the Strand Theater until December twenty sixth, eighteen forty eight.
Then it was that Robert Houdin, who had just returned
from the provinces, not Anderson. Anderson had been playing the
Capitals of Europe. Robert Houddan had been in Manchester, England.
Robert Houddin again skillfully twists the truth disute his own ends.

(22:37):
He actually states that Anderson, returning from a tour of
the provinces, used you poster a caricature of the famous
painting Napoleon's Return from Elba. In the foreground, Anderson was
seen affecting the attitude of the great man. Above his
head fluttered an enormous banner bearing the words the Wonder
of the World, while behind him, and somewhat lost in

(22:58):
the shade, the Emperor Russia and several other monarchs stood
in a respectful posture. As in the original picture, the
fanatic admirers of the wizard embraced by his knees, while
an immense crowd received him triumphantly. In the distance could
be seen the equestrian statue of the Iron Duke, who
hat in hand, bound before him the Great Wizard. And

(23:19):
lastly the very dome of Saint Paul's bent towards him
most humbly. At the bottom was the inscription return of
the Napoleon of Necromancy. Regarded seriously, this picture would be
found a puff in very bad taste, but as a
character mature it is excessively comic. Besides, it had the
double result of making the London public laugh and bringing

(23:41):
a great number of shillings into the skillful puffer's pockets.
Reference to my collection of Anderson programmes and press clippings
proved that while on the continent, his performances had created
such a sensation that, according to the ethics and exitiquec
of his profession, Anderson was quite justified in assuming the
title of the Napoleon of Necromancy, and in depicting even

(24:03):
kings and noblemen admiring his abilities as a conjurer. But
alas Robert Houddin had played only before English and French monarchs,
not before the other crown heads of Europe, including the
Tsar of Russia and the German Kaiser, it required weeks
and months of browsing in old book and print shops,
national libraries, and rare collections on my part to prove

(24:25):
that Anderson had really played these engagements. When his bitter
rival Robert Houddan, his heart eaten with jealousy until his
sense of honor and truth was hopelessly planted, was claiming
that Anderson had just returned from a trip in the
English provinces. It will be noted by reference to the
Anderson program that he had been engaged only for the
Christmas holidays. But despite Robert Houdin's claimed that he was

(24:47):
a failure and he was obliged to close and seek
new fields of conquest in the provinces, Anderson's engagement was extended.
He remained at the Strand till January the eleventh, eighteen
forty eight. Then, after a brief provincial tour, he actually
returned to London and played to big receipts again and again.
He appeared in London. Far from being the unpopular forgotten

(25:11):
ex magician pictured by Robert Houddan, he performed with great
success at Saint James's Theater, London in eighteen fifty one.
Robert Houdan appeared in London for the last time in
eighteen fifty three, but in eighteen sixty five, the despised
and forgotten Anderson was there again, creating a ferrara in
his exposure of the Davenport brothers. Robert Houddan might have

(25:33):
been justified in criticizing Anderson's sensational advertising methods, for these
were entirely opposed to the more elegant and conservative methods
employed by the French counturer. But certainly he was not
justified in picturing his rival as one who had passed
his prime, whose popularity had waned, whose repertoire no longer
attracted the public. For in addition to duplicating Robert Hoddin's

(25:55):
entire repertoire, Anderson offered tricks to which Robert Hoddan knew nothing,
and for years to come he constantly reconstructed his programs,
keeping them strictly up to date. Anderson did die a
poor man, but this was not because the amusement loving
public had wearied of him. A popular performer, like so
many of his class, he did not know how to

(26:16):
invest his huge earnings. It is known that he gave
twenty thousand dollars to various charities, while no record of
Robert Houdin's charities exist. He was burned out several times.
He lost money through a bad contract made for his
Australian tour. Certain investments stopped in value because of the
Civil War in the United States, during which England sympathized

(26:37):
with the South. Finally, during his American tour after the
Civil War, Anderson played the Southern States, then steeped into
bitterness towards the North, and was unfortunate enough to bill
himself as the Great Wizard of the North. This roused
Southern prejudice to White heat. He was almost mobbed and
was finally driven from that section of the country. He
went into bankruptcy November ninet teenth, eighteen sixty six, and

(27:02):
died at Darlington County, Durham, England, February third, eighteen seventy four.
His remains were interred in accordance with his dying request,
at Aberdeen, Scotland. So ends the true history of Robert Hoddan,
the Master Magician unmasked stands forth in all the hideous
nakedness of historical proof. The Prince of pilferers that he

(27:24):
might bask for a few hours in public adulation. He
purloined the ideas of magicians long dead and buried, and
proclaimed these as the fruits of his own inventive genius,
that he might be known to posterity as the king
of conjurers. He sold his birthright of manhood and honor
for a mere mess of pottage, his memoirs written by
the hand of another man, who, at his instigation, belittle

(27:46):
his contemporaries and juggled facts and truth to further egotistical,
jealous ambitions. But the day of reckoning is come upon
the history of magic, as promulgated by Robert Houdan. The
searchradit of modern investigation has been turned. Credit has been
given where it belongs to those magicians who preceded Robert Houdin,

(28:07):
and upon whose abilities and achievements Robert Houdin built his unearned,
unmerited fame. The dustive years had been swept from names
long forgotten, which should forever shine in the annals of magic.
Thus end also my researches, covering almost two decades of time,
researches in which my veneration for old time magicians grew

(28:28):
with each newly discovered bit of a history. The searches,
during which my respect for the profession of magic has
grown by leaps and bounds, and the fruits of these researches,
and I lay before the only true jury, the great
reading public. My task is finished. End of Section twelve.
End of the Unmasking of Robert Houdin.