Houdini, Harry

A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS [Inscribed to Richard Enright]

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1924. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, xxi, 294 pages. In Very Good minus condition. Bound in blue cloth with gilt lettering and decoration to spine and front board. Mild shelf wear to boards, including sun fading to spine (lettering remains legible); bumping to head, tail, and corners; scuffing to boards; boards somewhat shaken, no shelf lean, binding sturdy; age-toning to text block, stain to top; mild age toning to interior pages, text remains clear and legible; contains several black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Signed flat by Houdini on the dedication page. Inscribed on the front free endpaper by Houdini to Police Commissioner Richard Enright. JD consignment. Shelved Case 3.

1394446

Shelved Dupont Bookstore

Price: $11,000

NOTES

Richard E. Enright, police commissioner of New York from 1918 to 1925, and Erik Weisz, more commonly known by his stage name Harry Houdini, were both friends and professional collaborators. The pair maintained a good relationship until Houdini’s death in 1926, making the inscription in this book a personal glance into a historically noteworthy relationship.
Enright was the first person to assume command of the NYPD through climbing the ranks on merit and was the longest serving commissioner at the time. While his policies attracted criticism during prohibition, during his eight year term he instituted many reforms that benefited the working conditions of police officers and improved the overall efficiency of the police force. Enright was responsible for the execution of all laws and regulations of the NYPD starting before prohibition and through the early 1920s. He was charged with preserving the public peace, preventing crimes, arresting offenders, suppressing riots, and suppressing houses of “ill fame,” vice and gambling. Enright specifically targeted illegal gambling establishments formery run by the U.S. Congressman and underworld figure "Honest" John Kelly. Enright's continued harassment of Kelly's posthumous operations eventually forced them to sell the infamous Vendome Club building to a Republican political organization.
While collaborating with the police in perfecting and performing many of his most famous acts, especially those involving handcuffs, Houdini kept company with lawmen and stayed in touch with their affairs outside of his escape acts. He frequently lectured at police academies and departments, including the NYPD, as part of his (rather ironic) lifelong commitment to serving the common good through education against escape and deception.
By the end of his career, Houdini had an NYPD pass that authorized him to cross “all police lines” (Silverman, pg 44). In a letter written to psychic researcher Harry Price on July 4, 1925, Houdini affirms his police connection stating, “You know I am instructor here to the Police Academy to about hundred and fifty detectives." (The Harry Price Library, at The University of London)
In an interview for the November 1925 issue of Popular Science Magazine, Houdini said “[In the summer of 1924,] Police Commissioner Enright, of New York, asked me to lecture at the New York Police Academy, to explain to the members of the police force just how to go about detecting fraudulent mediums. The best and most direct way that occurred to me of doing this was by staging a séance, performing myself the tricks that the mediums use.”
“It has been my good fortune,” Houdini wrote later, “to meet personally and converse with the chiefs of police and the most famous detectives in all the great cities of the world.” (Silverman, pg 43) Houdini bought tickets for the Policeman's Ball, kept a folder labeled “Police Cuttings,” and owned a Directory of Police and Prisons, which named the chief of police in every sizable town in the country, and the wardens of state and federal prisons. In 1924, As President of the Society of American Magicians, he arranged a benefit dinner in New York for the families of fallen policemen, further cementing his positive reputation with the NYPD. Richard Enright, who was Commissioner of Police at the time, attended that meal and had nothing but flattering things to say about the magician.
"I want to say about [Houdini]—of his wonderful generosity and fine way of exemplifying it. He has a pretty hard job, and it’s pretty hard on him to steal this gentleman away from his vacation—away from the few leisure months that he has, and ask him to perform for some charitable purpose. But we have called upon him and he has come down to the great field day tournament, whether they be in July or August or in early September, which is the latest that we hold these games. Houdini comes down and performs for us and he is one of the best and most spectacular and finest exhibitions that we have. And this wonderful charity that he supports so brilliantly with what he does makes up a fund which is used for the widows and orphans of policemen who are killed in the discharge of their duty, and so Houdini is a magician for these widows and orphans. He helps in his wonderful way to bring magical things to them—things that they could not have if it weren’t for the support of men like Houdini—and I tell you that is the great magic of the world." (The Sphinx, August 15, 1924, p. 181)