House of Mystery
House of Mystery
House of Mystery
House of Mystery

House of Mystery two-volume set regular edition, ed. by Teller and Todd Karr SOLD OUT

$995.00

SOLD OUT

Edited and Compiled by Teller and Todd Karr
Hardbound w/dustjacket
Two volumes
890 pages total
More than 700 illustrations
Covers by artist Katlyn Breene

A note from Teller:
This two-volume set includes Abbott’s Book of Mysteries, a collection of super-mysteries which, so far as I know, has never been surpassed. Abbott was a genius who built his work on the devious principles he learned from spirit mediums, who could not afford to get caught.
With these miracles, Abbott fooled Houdini, Kellar, Okito, Ching Ling Foo, and all the greatest minds in magic, and recorded his secrets in step-by-step detail in two of the most delightful and detailed books ever written on the art of magic.
This edition’s annotations and the newly-rediscovered articles and letters, including seven original hand-illustrated Kellar letters, make this set as essential for the history buff as it is for the professional performer.
— Teller

House of Mystery includes fifty essays by Teller on technique, magic psychology, and presentation, plus his own top-secret billet-switch method.
The two volumes also feature over 100 diabolically clever close-up, stage, and mental effects, as well as the complete writings of David P. Abbott, including the legendary Book of Mysteries, Behind the Scenes with the Mediums, and previously unpublished material. To top off the book, you’ll find Abbott’s essays on the life and mysteries of illusion genius Joseffy, supplemented by biographical essays by Jim Steinmeyer and poet Carl Sandburg.

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Contents

VOLUME 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION Todd Karr
PREFACE Walter Graham
BEHIND THE SCENES Teller

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE MEDIUMS

CHAPTER 1
HALF-HOURS WITH THE MEDIUMS
1. Introduction
2. Bishop’s Sealed Letter Reading in a New Dress
3. Trick Envelope Test
4. Stolen Letter Test
5. The Mystic Oracle of the Swinging Pendulums
A Rapping Hand and a Light and Heavy Chest
6. Store Room Tests
7. Billet with Trick Envelope
A Spirit Message Written on a Slate in the Sitter’s Presence
8. Flower Materialization
9. The Dark Séance
A Deceptive Grip
Mental Tests
Spirit Voices, Taps, and Lights
10. Materialization
Preparation of Luminous Costumes, Method of Presentation, etc.
11. Hotel-Room Tests
Slate Writing on Slates Selected, Cleaned, and Held by Sitter
Test Wherein the Sitter’s Own Slates are Used
Billet Work in Connection Therewith
The Prepared Table
12. Reading Sealed Billets in Absolute Darkness

CHAPTER 2
MEDIUMISTIC READING OF SEALED WRITINGS

1. Introduction
2. Preparation of the Writings
3. Reading the Writings
Production of a Spirit Message
4. The Secrets Explained
Slate Trick Requiring a Special Chair

CHAPTER 3
SPIRIT SLATE WRITING AND BILLET TESTS

1. Introduction
2. Stack of Slates: First Method
Method Using a Rug or Newspaper
3. Stack of Slates: Second Method
How to Pass the Slates from One Hand to the Other
4. Two Slates
Some Expert Maneuvering and the Importance of the “Pass”
5. Stack of Slates: Third Method
Message Written with a Gold Ring
6. Reading Questions
Duplicate Envelope Method
Token Production
7. Slate Under Table
8. Three Slates
Conjuring Version
Preparing the Slates
9. Double-Hinged Slate
10. Independent Paper Writing
Torn Corner Version
11. Single Slate and Flap
Forcing the Page
Binding Method
Sum of Figures
Two Slate Method
Colored Three-Slate Version
12. Impressions and Billets
Assisted Method
A Test Using a Prepared Book
Clipboard Method
Card Switch
One-Handed Billet Switch
Billet Reading Behind Spectator
Dummy Billet Method
Sponge in Hat Method
13. Challenging Conditions
Trapdoor Methods
Magnet Method
Baseboard Switch
Window Switch
Trespassing Ruses
Fastened Slates
14. Various Methods
Rubber Stamp Method
Coat Switch
Chemical Methods
Writing Secretly
Speaking Tubes

CHAPTER 4
SOME MODERN SORCERY
1. Presentation of the Tests
2. Explanation of the Secrets
3. Double-Parlor Work
4. Card Servante and Blackboard

CHAPTER 5
SOME UNUSUAL MEDIUMISTIC PHENOMENA
1. Schlessinger’s Living and Dead Test
2. Death Location Billet Test

CHAPTER 6
MATERIALIZATION

CHAPTER 7
THE RELATIONSHIP OF MEDIUMSHIP TO PALMISTRY, ASTROLOGY, AND FORTUNE-TELLING
Reading a Burnt Question

CHAPTER 8
PERFORMANCES OF THE ANNIE EVA FAY TYPE

CHAPTER 9
VEST TURNING

CHAPTER 10
AN IMPROVED BILLET TEST

ADDENDA
Another Billet Test
The Swinging Pendulums Again
A Billet Test Improved
The Dr. Schlessinger Act Improved
Wireless Eleectrivity for Mediumistic Tricks
Postscript
Table Lifting
Mediumistic Materialization David P. Abbott

APPENDIX
Open Court Correspondence
Mediumistic Séances
A Puzzling Case
Spirit Portraiture

ADDITIONAL WRITINGS

THE MARVELOUS CREATIONS OF JOSEFFY
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

JOSEFFY: AN APPRECIATION Carl Sandburg
INSIGHTS INTO JOSEFFY Jim Steinmeyer

THE HISTORY OF A STRANGE CASE
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

THE WONDER GIRL
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

MUSINGS
Time, Space, and Existence
A Continuum of Homogeneity

VOLUME 2
INTRODUCTION Todd Karr
PREFACE Walter Graham

A DETECTIVE STORY IN THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY Teller

MYSTERY SOIRÉES
David P. Abbott’s Occultism T. W. McGrath
Abbott’s Wonders A. M. Wilson
David Abbott of Omaha Will Blyth
Midwest Magic Leslie Guest
David P. Abbott E. G. Ervin

DAVID P. ABBOTT’S
BOOK OF MYSTERIES

PART 1
ELECTRICAL MYSTERIES
1. Balsamo, the Living Skull

2. The Talking Teakettle
Meyers’ Kettle William H. Meyers
Letters from Kellar Harry Kellar
Voice in Tea Kettle Opens Book of Past C. de Vidal Hundt
Abbott Kettle Authentication David P. Abbott
Improved and Perfected Kettle A. M. Wilson
Ghosts that Talk by Radio Harry Houdini
The Unfortunate Exposure of the Talking Kettle Illusion
Regarding the Talking Tea Kettle Kendall Banning, Clyde W. Powers
The True History of Talking Tea Kettle David P. Abbott

3. Additional Effects
Loud-Speaking Daylight Trumpet
Ventriloquial Acts
The Educated Parrot and the Musical Canaries
The Kettle for a Second-Sight Act on the Stage
Second-Sight Effects
Method of Exchange of Questions in a Hall or Theater
The Kettle Spirit Plays a Phonograph Record with Her Fingernail
Guests About This Table Converse with a Spirit in a Large Trumpet
Best Stage Method of Answering Written Questions
Transmission of Thought to Ladies on the Stage
Transmission of Thought from Performer to Audience
Technique of Answering Questions from the Stage
Addenda to Part I

PART 2
MYSTERIES FOR THE PARLOR
1. The Floating Ball Illusion
The Gift of a Violin Okito
2. The Chinese Rings: An Act
3. The Spiritualistic Table
4. Best of All Slate Writing
Letter from Kellar Harry Kellar
5. The Indian Turban Illusion
6. The Spirit Portrait Mystery
Foreword
Solving the Mystery
Stage Version
Home Version
7. The Serpent of Pharaoh
8. Matter through Matter
9. Ching Ling Foo’s Paper Tearing Mystery
Letters from Kellar Harry Kellar
A Reminiscence of Ching Ling Foo David P. Abbott
10. Han Ping Chien Coin Illusion
Han Ping Chien David P. Abbott
11. Pocket-to-Pocket Card Illusion
12. Sawing a Woman in Two (with cords)
13. Spiritualistic Spoon and Glass
14. The Want-Ad Test
Letter from Kellar Harry Kellar

PART 3
MISCELLANEOUS EXPERIMENTS
1. Hankerchief and Flower Illusion
Handkerchief Illusion David P. Abbott
2. Kellar’s Superior Paper-Tearing
Letters from Kellar Harry Kellar
3. My Own Coin Illusion
4. Cut and Restored String Illusion
Kellar’s String Illusion
Letter from Kellar Harry Kellar
5. The Argot
Letters from Kellar Harry Kellar
6. Han Ping Chien’s Double Tape Illusion
7. Slate and Billet Illusion with Sitter’s Own Slates
8. Wooley’s Double Tape Illusion
9. Wooley’s Twenty Penny Illusion
10. The Mystic Circle and the Invisibles
11. Mock Sad Alli’s Pocket-to-Pocket Illusion
12. Candy Vase and Flower Illusion
13. Roterberg’s Growth of Flowers

FURTHER MYSTERIES
Introduction
1. Tsu Pein Chin Chein
2. Living and Dead Test
3. Vanishing and Reappearing Silk
4. Tables
5. Die Box
6. Flag Change
7. Vase, Cone, and Orange
8. Color Change
9. Rising Cards and Horseshoe
10. A Handkerchief Trick

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DAVID P. ABBOTT

INDEX

Additional information

Weight 8 lbs
Dimensions 10 × 8 × 3 in

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