Available again after nearly 2 decades! Get ready to meet the "The Most Hated Magician Who Ever Lived".
EXTREMELY LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE
Approximately 20 years ago, renowned magical author Arthur Setterington released a biography about The Great Lafayette, a friend and colleague of Houdini's during the "ragtime" era. This is more than just a book though. The Life and Times Of The Great Lafayette transports you back to the Golden Age of Magic, offering exclusive revelations and little-known details of its most important players like Houdin, Horace Goldin, Will Goldston, Carter, P.T.Selbit, Chung Ling Soo, Jasper Maskelyne and others.
Here's where things get bizarre though...
Shortly after the book was introduced, it vanished without a trace. It was later discovered that the book's publisher dissolved his business after suffering a stroke. As a result, most copies of The Life and Times Of The Great Lafayette languished in a warehouse for nearly a decade.
Now, a SUPER LIMITED amount of copies have been discovered and are believed to be the last remaining originals. Once these are gone, they will be gone forever!
The Life and Times of the Great Lafayette is a must-read book for any serious student of magic. It is an extremely insightful look at what magic was like at the turn of the century and also examines where it was heading in the future.
Here's a small taste of what you can expect to uncover within the pages of The Life and Times of the Great Lafayette:
- A surprising revelation regarding the rumors around Chung Ling Soo's death during the bullet catch
- Houdini's "patriotic mystery" and his role during the war efforts
- The reason why Lafayette almost got into a fistfight with the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
- Why Lafayette almost sued Horace Goldin
You'll also discover revealing details like:
- Why Will Goldston labeled The Great Lafayette as "The Most Hated Magician Who Ever Lived"
- Lafayette's unnatural, obsessive relationship with his dog Beauty (if you thought Houdini's attachment to his mother was excessive...wait until you see this.)
- Some of the most iconic legends surrounding Lafayette
- The unconventional methods Lafayette employed to gain publicity and earn fees as high as £1000 per week (a mind-boggling amount of money in the early 1900's).
You'll also learn what actually happened during the night of the tragic theater fire that killed Lafayette such as:
- What caused it and how it could have been prevented
- How the fire revealed an important clue about Lafayette's life
- How the wrong man was almost cremated as the result of a case of mistaken identity
All of this plus more than a dozen other Lafayette mysteries are revealed including:
- The gift Houdini gave Lafayette, and the unusual tribute he bestowed upon his death
- Lafayette's bizarre internment request
- How Lafayette designed all of his own illusions and proudly boasted that he had never bought or sold a trick.
There are even two detailed chapters filled with illustrated explanations of some of Lafayette's most popular illusions, including "The Lion's Bride" -- which was actually the first time a Lion had been used in a magic show. This is beautiful foreshadowing for how Siegfried & Roy would use these "King of Beasts" to promote their success for over 50 years.