{{Short description|French magician (1788-1859)}} [[File:Portrait-charge de Louis-Christian-Emmanuel-Apollinaire Comte (1788-1859), prestidigitateur et physicien du roi Charles, S1025 (1 of 3).jpg|thumb|Statuette of Louis Comte by Jean-Pierre Dantan (Musée Carnavalet).]]
'''Louis Apollinaire Christien Emmanuel Comte''' "The King's Conjurer" (born Geneva, 22 June 1788 – Rueil, 25 November 1859), also known simply as '''Comte''', was a celebrated nineteenth-century Parisian magician, greatly admired by Robert-Houdin.
He performed for Louis XVIII at the Tuileries Palace and was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by Louis-Philippe. He was sometimes called "The Conjurer of the Three Kings" (Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe).<ref>Jacques Voignier, ''preface'' to ''The Magic of Robert-Houdin: An Artist's Life'' [http://www.miraclefactory.net/roberthoudinpreface.htm at The Miracle Factory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121035813/http://www.miraclefactory.net/roberthoudinpreface.htm |date=2008-11-21 }}</ref> In 1814, Comte became the first conjurer on record to pull a white rabbit out of a top hat<ref>Colin McDowell, ''Hats: Status, Style, and Glamour'', 1992, p. 74. {{ISBN|0-8478-1572-2}}.</ref> though this is also attributed to the much later John Henry Anderson.<ref>QI, A Series, Episode 3</ref>
Comte owned the Théâtre Comte passage des Panoramas of the 2nd arrondissement of Paris and another one in the Passage Choiseul.
<gallery> File:Paris, France, Admission Jeton Token Théâtre Comte, Passage Choiseul, ND (1827 - 1846), reverse.jpg|Admission token Théâtre Comte, passage Choiseul, for a family of 4, reverse. File:Paris, France, Admission Jeton Token Théâtre Comte, Passage Choiseul, ND (1827 - 1846), obverse.jpg|Admission token Théâtre Comte, passage Choiseul, for a family of 4, obverse. </gallery>
== Bibliography == * Milbourne Christopher, David Copperfield, ''The Illustrated History of Magic'', 2005, p. 133. {{ISBN|0-7867-1688-6}}. * Henry Ridgely Evans, ''The Old and the New Magic'', Chicago, 1906. Reprinted 2006, {{ISBN|1-4286-3672-2}}. p. 150''ff''. * Paul Courville, Magic Tokens 2020, p. 32-33, {{ISBN|1727158539}} @ www.magictoken.org
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commonscatinline}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Comte, Louis}} Category:French magicians Category:People from Geneva Category:1788 births Category:1859 deaths Category:People from the Republic of Geneva