[Two copies of Houdini letterhead, with bust portrait of Houdini and illustrations of his escapes] – Antique Photo Print
![[Two copies of Houdini letterhead, with bust portrait of Houdini and illustrations of his escapes], [between 1920 and 1926] — historic print](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/d4/d4ca4cca8b89-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
A window into the past: [Two copies of Houdini letterhead, with bust portrait of Houdini and illustrations of his escapes], preserved in this historic print. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
Order it framed and ready to hang, or unframed to match a frame you already love. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.
[Two copies of Houdini letterhead, with bust portrait of Houdini and illustrations of his escapes]
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Harry Houdini's own letterhead is the particular subject here: two copies of a printed sheet that carried a bust portrait of the magician surrounded by small illustrations of his escape feats. Houdini built his public image around such self-promotion, and this stationery, printed sometime between 1920 and 1926 in the last years of his life, shows how deliberately he packaged his name. The record notes that the word "houdinize" appeared in Funk and Wagnalls dictionary under his name, a sign of how fully his escapes had entered everyday language. Pieces like this one are worth noticing for the way they turned a working professional's correspondence into advertising.
| Created / published | [between 1920 and 1926] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 2 photomechanical prints : halftone, color. |
| Genre | bonds |
| Notes | Now world famous, Houdini's letterhead visually summarized an adventurous life. It included a term present in Funk and Wagnall's dictionary where the following definition was given under the heading Houdini": "houdinize |
| Subjects | Houdini, Harry,--1874-1926--Associated objects. Escapes--1920-1930. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,144 × 1,462 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-217300 |
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