An amazing survival in its original binding

PILULAND, Elias [HOCUS POCUS JUNIOR].

Hocus Pocus oder Taschen-Spieler. Darin die Kunst auss der Taschen zu spielen, gar deutlich beschrieben wird, auch mit schönen Figuren erkläret, dass ein Unwissender hierauss nach weniger Ubung dieselbe Kunst völlig erlernen könne.

unknown: unknown, 1667.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #004006

8vo (152 x 92 mm). [16], 134 (i.e., 136), [4] pp. Typographic title with woodcut vignette, additional title with large woodcut bound before, numerous woodcut text illustrations, the final two unnumbered leaves and both title-leaves verso with Latin text. Bound in its original full sheep, boards blind-tooled (upper spine with loss of original leather repaired, wear to extremities, binding weak with several gatherings working loose, inner front hinge reinforced). Light even browning internally, light brown stain possibly from lamp oil at upper margin at beginning and getting weaker until p.65, clean tear at fore-margin of woodcut title with old repair, thumb- and dust soiling, some annotations and scribbles in contemporary hand, penultimate leaf with old paper repair at head and foot outside text area. Provenances: several ownership inscriptions on front and rear pastedowns and elsewhere; on typographic title-page added in ink "Durch Nicolaum Benthium / General Taschenspieler". An interesting detail of our copy are the (contemporary) hand-engraved letters and symbols (including the monogram "BEBC" on the upper cover) which appear to move when the book is tilted under light. This creates a magical effect especially in contrast to the non-moving embossed lines and figures. This copy in its original binding can be regarded a most amazing survival. ----

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FIRST EDITION IN GERMAN, first published as Hocus Pocus Junior in England 1634. Elias Piluland is not named as the author on the title page, but at the end of the foreword. As the translator of the English edition, he obviously also did not know the author of the original text, as he states on p. 134 "Ist nun einer der den Namen dessen, der dis Büchlein geschrieben, zu wissen begehret, demselben antworte ich, dass es nicht nötig thue..."
It is described by Harold Adrian Smith as "one of the priceless gems of magical antiquity, and one of the earliest milestones in conjuring literature [...] no single item in the whole realm of magical literature is sought for with more zeal than this ephemeral little jewel" (Books at Brown, Volume XXIV, 1987. Essays by Harold Adrian Smith on rare magic books, p. 32). According to Smith it is "the first illustrated book completely devoted to conjuring" (p. 43). "The German copies of Hocus Pocus Junior are fully as rare as the original English editions [...] the German edition has, in each case, a preface signed by Elias Piluland,' and the book is usually ascribed to him. I know of five editions" (p. 44).
The book is much sought after: a reissue of the ninth edition of 1682 of the English edition from the Ricky Jay Collection sold at Sothebys 2021 for USD 63,000 and a copy of the third German edition from the same collection for USD 9450. A copy of the sixth English edition sold at Potter & Potter for USD 30,000. A copy of this first German edition, and the only one we can trace at auction, sold at Reiss & Sohn (Germany) in 1998 for DM 11.000.
"Under the title Hocus Pocus Junior, a booklet on conjuring tricks was published in English in 1634, which was partly based on Reginald Scott's The discoverie of witchcraft (1584). It is the oldest illustrated book dealing with sleight of hand and magic tricks. The Hocus Pocus Junior was very successful and went through numerous editions and revisions. The book was published anonymously, but it is supposed that William Vincent was the author. Vincent was an entertainer who performed sleight of hand, magic tricks, tightrope walking and other skills for more than 20 years. Isolated sources show that he used the stage name “Hocus Pocus”. Questions however remain: why would Vincent have added the word "Junior" to his stage name for the book publication? This addition rather suggests that it was not Vincent himself but someone else (perhaps one of his children) who wrote the book - or at least that there was a senior in addition to the Hocus Pocus Junior. If we assume that Vincent was the only artist who called himself Hocus Pocus, then the speed with which this name became so well known that it almost immediately took on the more general meaning of 'conjurer' remains astonishing. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists evidence of this meaning from 1624 onwards. An alternative explanation could be: The formula “Hocus Pocus” was not used solely by William Vincent, but also by other sleight-of-hand artists of his time. Vincent would perhaps be the most prominent artist of his time to contribute to the popularization of the expression, but he would not be the creator of this formula" (transl. from Richter).
Bibliography & References: VD17 29:719870D; M. Zollinger, Bibliographie der Spielbücher des 15. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, vol. 1, No. 323; Raymond Toole-Stott, Circus and Allied Arts. A World Bibliography, 1500-1962, Vol. 3, Appendix C: Hocus Pocus Books. pp. 298-333; T.H. Hall, Old Conjuring Books. A bibliographical and historical study with a supplementary check-list, 1972; Jonas Richter, Elias Piluland, Hocus Pocus und das zeitkürzende Spielhaus. GeSpiele, 5. Juli 2022; https://doi.org/10.58079/p143.

Price: 34,000 €  *  convert currency