Houdini [Hardcover]

Milbourne Christopher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

A comprehensive pictorial biography of America's legendary master magician and escape artist Houdini. Compiled and written by a renowned magician, this spellbinding book contains more than 250 illustrations of posters, photographs, and other Houdini memorabilia, as well as a facsimile of an autobiographical pamphlet published in 1917 by the master himself.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gramercy (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517189038
• ISBN-13: 978-0517189030
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,098,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Photos, Fair Reprint, March 25, 2000

By 

John Cox (Studio City, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Houdini (Hardcover)

This book is a reprint of Christopher's "Houdini A Pictorial Life" published in 1976. Compared to the original, it's a rather poor reprint. The quality of the B&W photos are much degraded and one of the original book's two color pages is now B&W (the other is missing entirely). Still, the photos in this book - many showing Houdini in action - are terrific and very rare. The original book can be hard to find and tends to sell for $30 and up. But if you're going to hunt (and pay) then hunt down instead "Houdini His Legend and His Magic" by Doug Henning. This is the best of the four "coffee table" size Houdini books done in the late '70s. If you're looking for a definitive Houdini biography (more content than photos) I recommend "Houdini! The Career of Ehrich Weiss" by Ken Silverman.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good content...b/w illus., January 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Houdini (Hardcover)

excellent info on Houdini...be aware that all illus. are black/whit

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting republished photos of Houdini and his life, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Houdini (Hardcover)

a work of republished and copied photos of Harry. Its nice to have them all together and even some photos that are not found elsewhere. The publisher and or author would have more praise if the photos were clearer and more refined and not so dark . Some looked as if they were photocopied out of someone elses photocopy book.... I would have liked to compare this edition with first printing to see if there was a difference.. many other books with some of the same photos show a definite clarity in reproduction.