So common was the trick that its description was written in every work on magic published from 1784 to the date of Robert-Houdin's first appearance, and in at least one volume printed as early as 1635. The majority of French encyclopædias described the trick and exposed it according to one method or another, and Robert-Houdin admits having been a great reader of encyclopædias. The trick first appears in print in various editions of "Hocus Pocus," twenty in all, starting with 1635. The majority contain feats with cards, showing how to bring them up or out of a pack with a black thread, a hair spring, or an elastic. In 1772 the rising-card trick was shown in Guyot's "Physical and Mathematical Recreations," also in the Dutch or Holland translations of the same work. In 1791 it was minutely explained by Hofrath von Eckartshausen, who wrote five different books on the subject of magic. The fourth, being devoted principally to the art of the conjurer, was entitled "Die Gauckeltasche, oder vollständiger Unterricht in Taschenspieler u. s. w.," which translated means "The Conjurer's Pocket or Thorough Instructions in the Art of Conjuring." The title was due to the fact that in olden days conjurers worked with the aid of a large outside pocket. The five books, published under the general title of "Aufschlüsse zur Magie," bear date of Munich, Germany. On page 138 of the third edition of Gale's "Cabinet of Knowledge," published in London in 1800, will be found a description of the rising-card trick as done with pin and thread, and the same book shows how it is accomplished with wax and a hair. This book seems to have been compiled from Philip Breslaw's work on magic, "The Last Legacy," published in 1782. Benton, who published the English edition of Decremps' famous work on magic, exposing Pinetti's répertoire, also described the trick. "Natural Magic," by Astley, the circus man, and Hooper's "Recreations," in four volumes, published in 1784, expose the same trick. [Illustration: CONJURER UNMASKED OR _the Art of Sleight of hand_ Reproduction of frontispiece in Breslaw's book on magic, "The Last Legacy," published in 1782. Original in the Harry Houdini Collection.] As to magicians who performed the trick, their names are legion, and only a few of the most prominent conjurers will be mentioned in this connection. [Illustration: J. H. Anderson's birth place as drawn by him from memory. The following is written under the sketch in his own handwriting: "A rough sketch of the farm house called 'Red Stanes,' on the estate of Craigmyle, Parish of Kincardine O'Neil, Aberdeenshire. The house was built by my grandfather, John Robertson, in the year 1796, and in it I was born on the 15th day of July, 1814. John Henry Anderson." Photographed from the original now in the possession of Mrs. Leona A. Anderson, by the author.]