Book 5 — Transcriber’s Notes

Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation have been retained (including in names), except as mentioned below. Néant was consistently spelled neant, this was not changed; French accents have not been corrected, except as mentioned below. All reference letters in the text have been spaced for consistency. Inconsistent use of (Greek) letters for parts described have not been changed when the letters were not included in the accompanying drawings. The cover image has been made for this PG text, and is placed in he public domain. The Table of Contents does not fully conform to the text; this has not been changed. For illustrations with text that may be difficult to read, hovering over the illustration with the mouse shows the text (not available in all formats). Illustrations with corners cut out were like that in the printed work. Depending on the hard- and software used to read this text and their settings, not all characters may display as intended. Not all reference letters are visible or correct in all illustrations in the original (see also various footnotes explaining this). Page 51, paragraph “In placing his hands ...”: this paragraph was copied verbatim from the original work. Apparently something went wrong during the book production process: some lines seem to be misplaced or otherwise garbled. A very similar (if not the same) trick is better explained in Harry Houdini: Magical Rope Ties and Escapes. London: Will Goldstone, 1921. Page 186, spelling of Anna: the code actually spells Anaa. Page 488, illustration strip negative, actual size: the Edison film strip with single perforation (1891) was 19 mm wide. Page 493, illustration dancers, real size: one frame was approximately 35 mm wide. Page 540, Le Vie de Joseph Balsamo: the actual title is Vie de .... Page 542, Hoffman: illegible in original, verified with a later edition of the same book. Page 550, della Porta: there is probably a figure missing in the number of pages; the number of pages has been transcribed as 3~1.

Changes made to the text: Some missing and wrong punctuation has been added and corrected silently, some obvious typographical errors were corrected silently. Some compound illustrations: white space around individual pictures reduced in size. Page 154: enlarged Fig. 2 added (not present as such in the original work). Page 7: Etienne changed to Étienne for consistency Page 10: surreptiously changed to surreptitiously Page 23: Russias changed to Russians Page 87: In the illusion changed to In the illustration Page 93: but this it not at all changed to but this it is not at all Page 104: When Robert-Houdin introduces the illusion changed to When Robert-Houdin introduced the illusion Page 136: after is returned to you changed to after it is returned to you Page 211: analagous changed to analogous Page 220: Ν Ξ Ο R changed to Ν Ξ Ο Ρ Page 234: Sais changed to Saïs for consistency Page 283: Weisbaden changed to Wiesbaden as elsewhere Page 290: Olympicorun changed to Olympicorum Page 487: Demeney changed to Demeny for consistency Page 541: Ewbanks changed to Ewbank Page 547: mathematiques changed to mathématiques for consistency; et le leurs changed to et de leurs; Amusantes changed to Amusante; pénitenas changed to pénitences Page 549: Wein u. Feldbau changed to Wein- u. Feldbau; Piecen changed to Piècen.