Burlingame, Hardin J: Herrmann The Magician ©1897 Laird & Lee, Chicago Hardcover, 298 pages Also published in 1897 as: Herrmann The Great and Magician's Handbook ©1942 Wilcox and Follett Co. Softcover, 298 pages	1897 Laird & Lee Image courtesy e-Bay seller jest_jc	Magico Edition 2007
Image courtesy Don's Used Magic and Books	Laird & Lee Image courtesy eBay seller Magicpi_66	Albert Whitman & Co. Image courtesy e-Bay seller JayAndLefty

Comments: There appear to be two different Laird & Lee editions published in 1897, one titled, "Herrmann The Magician", and the other "Herrmann The Great". There was also an Albert Whitman & Co. edition apparently also of 1897 entitled, "Herrmann The Great, World's Greatest Magician". In 1942, Wilcox & Follet Co. re-named it to "Magician's Handbook, Tricks and Secrets of the World's Greatest Magician." More recently (2007) Magico has a reprint that includes an article "A Bibliographic Study" by Byron Walker, detailing the many editions of this book. I also found it unusual that during my research some places print Herrmann's first name as simply Herrman (as on the Magico book cover above). This book was also available as part of Marko's LearnedPigProject, now hosted at Lybrary.com.

Contents (from book)

5 Preface
7 Introduction: Psychology of the Art of Conjuring
42 The Conjuring Husband: a poem
46 The Magician's Art: a poem

47 Chapter I: Herrmann the Magician: His Birthplace; His Family; His Early Years; The Career of his famous brother, Carl Herrmann

7 Chapter II: The Life and career of Alexander Herrmann: San Francisco Newspaper Article, Chicago Newspaper Article, Herrmann's Broadway House (with some description of acts)

118 Chapter III Herrmann's Secrets: all briefly described
119 Herrmann's Best Handkerchief Trick: destroyed and repaired magically
123 Handkerchief Produced From Bare Hands and then Caused to Vanish
126 The Vanishing Handkerchief: vanisher described
129 The Color-Changing Handkerchief: apparatus described
131 Another Method of Making Silk Handkerchiefs Change Color: dye tube description
133 Changing a Handkerchief Into a Billiard Ball: special ball
135 Making a Solid Billiard Ball Vanish Through a Glass of Water: with clever gimmick
138 The Multiplying Billiard Ball: very briefly described
139 The Chameleon Billiard Ball: color changing
141 Samuels' Improved Chameleon Billiard Ball
142 Rising Cards: multiple cards rise from deck in glass
146 The Bouquet and the Rising Cards: card rises from bouquet
149 The Magic Card Bottle: selection appears at top of wine bottle
150 Card Printed on a Handkerchief by a Pistol Shot
151 Any Card Thought of Disappears to Reappear Elsewhere: uses palm
152 The Bottle and the Flag: multiple flags produced from a bottle full of liquid
154 Herrmann's Ring and Bottle Trick: borrowed rings end up in broken bottle
157 The Famous Rabbit Trick: the rabbit out of the hat! With some interesting anecdotes
161 The Multiplying Coins: coin tray
163 Herrmann's Flower Production
166 Flower Production on an Empty Plate
167 The Great Shooting Trick: bullets fired are caught on a plate
176 Herrmann's Rice, Cone and Orange Trick: famous apparatus
181 Herrmann's Kling Klang Trick: egg in glass transposes with handkerchief in hand
184 Herrmann's Fish Bowl Production
189 Cazeneuve's Card in an Orange
189 The Flying Cage: vanishes when thrown
194 Chronological Catastrophe and Candle of Mephisto: in which a borrowed watch is accidentally destroyed and restored
197 Mind Reading by Impression
200 Mind Reading—Cards and Questions
202 Spirit Calculator: mathematical
204 Heavy Weight from a Hat: several weights pulled from a hat
207 How to Lift a Bowl Full of Water with a Hand in the Bowl
208 The Magi's Wand: floats
210 The Floating Hat, Wand and Table: all picked up by the palm of the hand
215 The Artist's Dream: stage illusion briefly described
218 The Vanishing Lady: stage illusion, lady vanishes from seat
221 The Spiritualistic Sack: sack escape
224 Decapitation, by Vaneck: illusion
227 Decapitation, by Herrmann: another version
230 The Indian Mail: trunk vanish
234 Modern Black Art: a black art act detailed
243 The Escape from Sing Sing: prisoners transpose between cages
245 The Enchanted Organ; or the Unexpected Supper: pipe organ turns into supper
249 The Mystery of "She": a mysterious appearing and vanishing woman stage illusion
250 Modern Metempsychosis: figures seem to slowly materialize like ghosts
256 The Great Flight of Objects: borrowed object vanishes to be found in place predicted by spectators
261 The Cocoon: silkworm changes to a lady dressed as a butterfly
264 Silent Thought Transmission: blindfolded mind reading experiment; lengthy description of mnemonics used
292 A Comedy of Errors: a full stage act with umbrellas, handkerchiefs, and more