[Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). The Testament of Jérôme Sharp, Pr - Lot 200

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  3. [Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). The Testament of Jérôme Sharp, Pr - Lot 200
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[Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). The Testament of Jérôme Sharp, Pr - Lot 200
[Magic]. DECREMPS (Henri). The Testament of Jérôme Sharp, Professor of Amusing Physics: containing, among various subtle tricks 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. A classic work on magic by Henri Decremps (1746–1826), illustrated with a musical riddle on the frontispiece (with the answer at the end) and 68 woodcut figures within the text. Paris, published by the Author, Granger, Bailly, Lagrange, Lescapart, 1786. Volume in-8 (20.1x13.1 cm). Marbled tan calfskin, ribbed spine decorated with a red morocco patch and floral panels with gilt metalwork, marbled edges. (Contemporary binding). Cap bands rubbed. Frontispiece, xix - [1] unnumbered page, 328 pp., 1 unnumbered page. Rare first edition of the third volume 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 Testament of Jérôme Sharp in 1786, then The Codicil of Jérôme Sharp in 1788. The fifth and final volume, "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 classic of magic from the era when Cagliostro and Mesmer astonished the world with their experiments. It was after attending the 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 a challenge. The book contains numerous curious tricks, notably involving telepathy and divination, some of which employ mathematics (stabbing a knife into a rooster’s head without killing it, tricks with cups, a new secret for making puns, seemingly guessing others’ thoughts, Palingenesis or the art of bringing the dead back to life...). A fine copy, fresh and clean.
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