Credit: Henning Book

Harry Houdini commissioned Frederick Bushnell’s studio photography company to take semi-nude photos of him as he reenacted a San Francisco escape.

A pitchbook (above) and an Ebay auction (above) dates these images as July,1899.

A museum quality photo reproduction of the Ebay auction image with the Bushnell San Francisco logo in the lower right has been meticulously hand mounted on a collectible cabinet card reproduction (above) available from Fantasma Magic.

HHCE Collection

And last but not least, there is an undated cabinet card (above) from the Newark Photographer, J Rennie Smith, with the infamous photo of Houdini holding up handcuffs affixed to it. I acquired it from someone that deals in old postcards. Note: The photo does not have any logo on it, only the cabinet card.

J Rennie Smith was an active Newark photographer from 1868 thru the 1890s. He died October 4, 1905.

Ashbury Park Press 05 Oct 1905

Houdini ‘s first performance in Newark was April 23, 1906, where he escaped a jail at the Newark police headquarters, so…

Thoughts on a date for the cabinet card from Newark?

Update:
A cropped B&W image (with a snippet of Bushnell logo) first appeared in Mahatma Vol 3 No. 7 New York, Brooklyn Borough , January 1900 magazine. Patrick Culliton’s ‘Tao of Houdini’ book has a B&W image that closely matches the albumen print on my cabinet card; and while you can’t see it in the book, the original in Kevin Conolly’s collection appears to have a faint Bushnell logo. My albumen print may have lost this Bushnell logo highlight detail over time.