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Daguerre Val de Loire

137 - [Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). White Magic Unveiled, or an Expla…
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Estimate €250 - €350
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Description
[Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). White Magic Unveiled, or an Explanation of the Astonishing Tricks which have Recently Aroused Admiration in the Capital and the Provinces, with Reflections on the Divining Rod and Chess-Playing Automata. &c. &c. Paris: Langlois, Tiger and the author, 1784. An unbound volume comprising a frontispiece engraved by Hemery after a drawing by Queverdo, and also an illustration in the text (p. 129). The last leaf, which is often missing, bears a special note: ‘When this leaf is heated, the word “Logogryphe” will appear, written in green invisible ink, which will disappear once the paper has cooled. ’ The experiment was carried out on this copy: the word appeared and is still partly visible, but the heat has partially burnt the paper where the word was, leaving a hole. Enclosed: [Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). The Testament of Jérôme Sharp, Professor of Amusing Physics; in which one finds, amongst several tricks of ingenuity that can be performed at no cost, precepts and examples on the Art of Composing Impromptu Songs; to serve as a supplement to ‘White Magic Unveiled’. In Paris, published by the Author, Granger, Bailly, Lagrange, Lesclapart, 1786. One volume in cardboard binding, with a smooth leather spine and a title label in red morocco. Frontispiece, xix – [1] unnumbered page, 328 pp., 1 unnumbered page, illustrated with 68 figures (numbered 1 to 68). A rare first edition of the third instalment of Henri Decremps’s famous treatise on the ‘amusing sciences’, the first volume of which, *La magie blanche dévoilée*, was printed in 1784; a supplement was published in 1785, followed by *The Will of Jérôme Sharp* in 1786, then *The Codicil of Jérôme Sharp* in 1788. The fifth and final instalment, *The Little Adventures of Jérôme Sharp*, appeared in 1789. Decremps, a lawyer and mathematician, was not himself a conjurer or magician, but his written work is a great classic of magic from the era when Cagliostro and Mesmer were astonishing the world with their experiments. It was after attending the séances and performances of the famous Italian illusionist Giuseppe Pinetti (1750–1800), who presented himself as a physicist, that he chose to reveal all his tricks after Pinetti had issued him with a challenge. The book contains a number of curious tricks, notably involving telepathy and divination, some of which make use of mathematics (stabbing a knife into a cock’s head without killing it, tricks with cups, a new secret for creating puns, seemingly guessing another person’s thoughts, Palingenesis, or the art of bringing the dead back to life...). Both books have minor foxing.
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About the sale Books & Manuscripts, Engravings, Posters, Illustrations, Postcards and Stamps
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Auction time 09/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
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