1811
by OEHLER, ANDREW
1811. OEHLER, ANDREW. The Life, Adventures, and Unparalleled Sufferings of Andrew Oehler: Containing an Account of his Travels ... Written by Himself. Trenton: D. Fenton; L. Deare, printer, N. Brunswick, 1811. 226 p. Contemporary mottled sheep (hinges cracked but solid). Some dampstains, but quite good. First and only edition of the first autobiographical account of a magician to be published in America. One of two issues with slightly different title page imprints. A delightful narrative of the adventures, misfortunes, and hairbreadth escapes of a picaresque traveler, chiefly in Europe and the southern United States. Oehler, according to his own account, was born in Germany in 1781. He came to America early in 1800, landing first at Baltimore, then journeying through Maryland and Virginia. In 1801 he left for Santo Domingo, where he arrived in the midst of the black insurrection, was taken to Toussaint, and joined the insurrectionary army. The next year he was in South Carolina, where he learned to build hot-air balloons and did public ascensions there and in Georgia and Tennessee. He next learned legerdemain and conducted seances, attracting crowds and filling his pockets. Over the next several years he added fireworks and atmospheric electricity to his bag of tricks, traveling throughout the south before heading north to Philadelphia, then New Jersey. The appendix following the text describes some of the technical principles behind his slight-of-hand and electricity demonstrations. See Ricky Jay, "Suffering Hyperbole," Gibeciere 7 (2012): 11-17, and Enrique Jimenez-Martinez, "Andrew Oehler's Myths of Old Mexico: Two Hundred Years after Something that Never Happened," Gibeciere 7 (2012): 21-88. S&S 23586; Howes O-25; Felcone, New Jersey Books (2nd edn.), 1824; Clark, Travels in the Old South, II, 110.
(Inventory #: 14978)