Perhaps the best pen pictures of Pinetti and his methods are furnished by E. G. Robertson in his "Memoirs." Robertson was a contemporary of Pinetti, and, like him, a pioneer in ballooning. His "Memoirs," written in the French language, were published in 1831. The following extracts from this interesting book tell much of Pinetti's life in Russia and of his professional history as tradition and actual acquaintance had presented it to M. Robertson: "Pinetti had travelled a great deal and for a long time had enjoyed a great European reputation. He had done everything to attain it. There was never a man that carried further the art of the 'charlatisme.' When he arrived in a town where he intended to give a show, he took good care to prepare his public by speeches, which would keep it in suspense. In St. Petersburg great and incredible examples of mystification and of prestidigitation were told about him. "One day he went to a barber-shop to get shaved, sat down in the chair, had the towel tied around his neck, and laid his head back ready for the lather. The barber left him in this position to get hot water, and when he returned, guided by force of habit, he applied the lather where the chin should be, but he found feet, arms, hands, and body in a coat, but no head! Such lamentations! No more head! What could it mean? He opened the door, and, frightened to death, ran away. Pinetti then went to the window and called the barber back. He had put his head in his coat in such a clever way, covering it with his handkerchief, that the surprise and the fright of the barber were quite natural. Of course this barber did not fail to spread over the whole town that he had shaved a man who could take his head off and on to his wish. [Illustration: Frontispiece of Pinetti's book, "Amusements Physiques," published in Paris, 1785, one of the first treasures of the Evanion Collection purchased by the author.] [Illustration: Pinetti's autograph, written by him on the back of the frontispiece, reproduced on page 78. Original in the Harry Houdini Collection.]