Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin - Wikipedia

Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (December 7, 1805 – June 13, 1871) was a French magician. He is widely considered the father of the modern style of conjuring.[1]

Robert-Houdin was born Jean-Eugène Robert in Blois, France, on 6 December 1805—a day after his autobiography said he was.[2][3] His father, Prosper Robert, was a watchmaker in Blois. Jean-Eugene's mother, the former Marie-Catherine Guillon, died when he was just a young child.[3] At the age of eleven, Prosper sent his son Jean to school thirty-five miles up the Loire to the University of Orléans.[2] At 18, he graduated and returned to Blois. His father wanted him to be a lawyer,[3] but Robert-Houdin wanted to follow into his father's footsteps as a watchmaker.

His penmanship was excellent, and it landed him a job as a clerk for an attorney's office. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His employer sent him back to his father. He was told that he was better suited as a watchmaker than a lawyer, but by then, Jean's father had already retired, so he became an apprentice to his cousin who had a watch-shop. For a short time, Jean worked as a watchmaker.[3]

In the mid-1820s, he saved up to buy a copy of a two-volume set of books on clockmaking called Traité de l'horlogerie, or Treatise on Clockmaking, written by Ferdinand Berthoud.[3][3]

When he got home and opened the wrapping, instead of the Berthoud books, what appeared before his eyes was a two-volume set on magic called Scientific Amusements. Instead of returning the books, his curiosity got the best of him. From those crude volumes, he learned the rudiments of magic. He practiced at all hours of the day.[3]

From that point when he accidentally received those books on conjuring, he became very interested in the art. He was upset that the books he got only revealed how the secrets were done but did not show how to do them.[2] He found that learning from the books available in those days was very difficult due to the lack of detailed explanations provided,[3] but the books piqued his interest in the art. So Jean began taking lessons from a local amateur magician.[3] He paid ten francs for a series of lessons from a man named Maous from Blois who was a podiatrist but also entertained at fairs and parties doing magic. He was proficient in sleight of hand, and he taught Jean how to juggle to coordinate his eye and hand.[2][3] He also taught him rudiments of the cups and balls. He told young Jean that digital dexterity came with repetition, and as a direct result, Jean practiced incessantly.[2]

Magic was his pastime, but meanwhile, his studies in horology continued. When he felt he was ready, he moved to Tours and set up a watchmaking business, doing conjuring on the side.[3]

Much of what we know about Robert-Houdin comes from his memoirs—and his writings were meant more to entertain than to chronicle, rendering it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Robert-Houdin would have readers believe that a major turning point in his life came when he became apprenticed to the magician Edmund De Grisi, Count's son and better known as Torrini.

What is known is that his early performing came from joining an amateur acting troupe.[3] Later, he performed at social parties as a professional magician in Europe and The United States.[3] It was during this period while at a party that he met the daughter of a Parisian watchmaker, Monsieur Jacques François Houdin, who had also come from Jean Robert's native Blois.[2][3] The daughter's name was Josèphe Cecile Houdin, and Jean fell in love with Cecile at their first meeting.[3] On July 8, 1830, they were married. He hyphenated his own name to hers and became Robert-Houdin.[2][3]