£400
FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. xvi, 201, [1], 6, 24 [ads] + heat-responsive frontispiece. Original harlequin-patterned cloth. A touch of spotting, some openings soiled, frontispiece very lightly scorched. Binding spotted, soiled and discoloured, head of spine cloth sometime reglued, flyleaf renewed.
The first edition of chemist and perfumer George William Septimus Piesse's (1820-1882) book of conjuring for a juvenile audience, which reached a third edition by 1865. The frontispiece contains a portrait of the author printed in thermochromic ink which becomes visible when heated (and still works), often lost on surviving copies.
