to all her servants and the next morning the clothes were back in place. Phylidor also made a barber believe that he had removed his head to shave himself, secretly using an imitation of his head made out of wax. From around December 1798 to 1800 Phylidor collaborated on his shows with a business partner who was also advertised to be a physicist. In March 1799 Phylidor had a feud with Dutch glassblower J. Demmenie, who according to Phylidor had copied his show after Phylidor had used a tent of Demmenie's mother and had worked with his brother in law as an attendant. Phylidor took out an ad in two local newspapers to warn the public against this poor copy of his show. Demmenie replied in the newspapers by calling Phylidor an alien libeller and claiming that the used machinery had been known to physicists since a 100 years and shown by others in the region since six years.De Nieuwe Haagse Nederlandse Courant. 1799.04.20 Paul de Philipsthal Phylidor was very likely the same person as Paul de Philipsthal who lived in the U.K. and first performed Phantasmagoria shows in October 1801. Philipsthal was granted a British patent for his Phantasmagoria on January 27, 1802. Paul de Philipsthal and his wife Mary had a son called Albert Augustus and a daughter called Paulina Theresa, both baptized in St Luke's Church, Chelsea on 13 August 1819. Paul de Philipsthal died unexpectedly on 7 March 1829 in Leeds, after a short illness that started the evening before. He had been performing in Leeds for six weeks, but his shows weren't very well attended and he had arranged to perform in Wakefield a few days later. He reportedly left his widow and three children unprovided for, so an appeal was made in the local newspaper to collect funds that would enable the family to move to Hull and get Mrs. Philipsthal established at a school over there.Hull Packet, 17-03-1829 A benefit exhibition for the widow and children of Philipsthal's "Royal Mechanical & Optical Museum" was shown in the Wakefield Theatre. Influences Much of Phylidor's early shows and stage persona was based on the works of famous magician Joseph Pinetti. Pinetti had performed magic shows and exhibited ingenious mechanical devices across Europe, including performances at the Menus-Plaisirs for the King of France in 1783. Pinetti publicized his shows cleverly. He claimed to be a professor