EXHIBITION GUIDE & EVENT HIGHLIGHTS STAGING

A warm welcome to Senate House Library and to Staging Magic: The Story Behind the Illusion, an adventure through the history of conjuring and magic as entertainment, a centuries-long fascination that still excites and inspires today.

The exhibition displays items on the history of magic from Senate House Library’s collection. The library houses and cares for more than 2 million books, 50 named special collections and over 1,800 archives. It’s one of the UK’s largest academic libraries focused on the arts, humanities and social sciences and holds a wealth of primary source material from the medieval period to the modern age.

I hope that you are inspired by the exhibition and accompanying events, as we explore magic’s spell on society from illustrious performances in the top theatres, and street and parlour tricks that have sparked the imagination of society.

Dr Nick Barratt Director, Senate House Library INTRODUCTION

The exhibition features over 60 stories which focus on magic in the form of sleight-of-hand (legerdemain) and stage illusions, from 16th century court jugglers to the great masters of the golden age of magic in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These stories are told through the books, manuscripts and ephemera of the Library of Magical Literature.

Through five interconnected themes, the exhibition explores how magic has remained a mainstay of popular culture in the western world, how its secrets have been kept and revealed, and how magicians have innovated to continue to surprise and enchant their audiences.

• Magic’s Spell on Society • Magic and Innovation • Magic for All • Masters of Magic and their Influence • Harry Price and his Magical Library

Each theme features some of the most important books in the history of magic alongside lesser-known works celebrating a range of genres in magic publishing.

Exhibition Curated by: Tansy Barton | Research Librarian, Senate House Library

Exhibition Design, Planning & Engagement by: Dr Maria Castrillo and Rebecca Simpson | Senate House Library Joe Stone | Illustrator and Graphic Designer – www.joe-stone.co.uk

Exhibition Conservation by: Yunsun Choi, Talitha Wachtelborn and Angela Craft | Senate House Library

Acknowledgements: Russell Kennedy, Adrian Graham, Dave Jackson, Image Group, Bob Loomis, Richard Wiseman, Peter Lamont, Gustav Khun, Robert Kelly, Drummond Money-Coutts, Charles Harrowell, Karen Attar and Angela Craft

3 HARRY PRICE AND HIS MAGICAL LIBRARY

The book collection of the Harry Price a life-long pursuit of books on magic, Library alone includes over 13,000 items psychical phenomena and the occult. from the 15th century to the present day on magic, witchcraft, psychical Price would become best known for his research, parapsychology, the occult, infamous investigations of mediums, the and many other hauntings and other subjects. Our exhibition focuses on phenomena. He exposed the fakery in one aspect of his collection, conjuring spirit photographs and tested and legerdemain, and features several mediums, including the Schneider of the collection’s rarest titles. Brothers, and many others, under his own laboratory It was on a cold, late 19th century morning conditions. He also documented cases in Salisbury that a young boy with of fire-walking and the , toothache watched a travelling magic/ investigated Gef, the talking mongoose, show. The Great Sequah and claimed to have found the most ‘extracted’ the boy’s tooth and presented haunted house in England, Borley Rectory. a series of magical wonders, such as producing doves from an empty hat. The collection of books, manuscripts, The boy demanded an explanation from prints and ephemera Price amassed his parents of how an empty hat could came to the University of in 1936 contain two doves, and eventually receive and was bequeathed in 1948. It was a a copy of Professor Hoffmann’s Modern great source of pride for him and is one Magic (1874). The boy was Harry of his greatest legacies. In the 1930s Price, and was the he mounted several exhibitions of his beginning of his Magical Library and ‘rare, old and curious works on magic, witchcraft, legerdemain, charlatanism, and the occult sciences’ and published several articles on the rarities of his collection.

Price intended his collection to be used for research. He was described by as a talented magician, but his passion was psychical research, and books on magic served as resources for the investigation of alleged phenomena. He did, however, prize rare and first

4 He also made his own films and included a cinematograph in his ‘ghost hunting’ kit (the kit was an idea ‘borrowed’ from ). The film was compiled by the National Film Library in 1935 from films shot byPrice of his experiments in phenomena. Each investigation had its own connection to the world of stage magic. The Indian Rope trick was a cause célèbre in the 1920s and 1930s, and the general consensus of experts was that a genuine version of the trick was a myth. Many magicians performed a version in their acts, including , and Servais LeRoy. But the true rope trick, involving a boy climbing a rigid rope in open air and editions, with his copies of The Discoverie disappearing at the top, was deemed of Witchcraft (1584) and Hocus Pocus to be impossible. Price claimed to have Junior (1634) among his treasures. Hints seen a genuine version. The performer of bibliomania can also be detected was Karachi (the stage name of by his multiple editions of Modern Englishman Arthur Claude Darby) who Magic and Henry Dean’s The Whole had his son climb the rope, but the boy Art of Legerdemain, or, Hocus Pocus in did not disappear. Nevertheless, Price Perfection (1722). He happily reported in was convinced it was a viable solution his correspondence the transfer to the to the mythical trick. The Rope Trick is University under the grand title of ‘The followed in the film by an experiment Harry Price Library of Magical Literature.’ in black magic on the Brocken peak in Through the course of the exhibition, Germany. Price claimed to have found items will be displayed reflectingHarry a ritual for the transformation of a goat Price’s passions as a collector of into a man in a 15th century ‘High German magical literature alongside material Black Book.’ He pitched the event as a exploring his connections to the world demonstration of the fallacies of belief in of magic as well as his investigations. the occult, but it was closer to a publicity stunt. The goat went on to be used by Magic: A Short Film magician Horace Goldin in an illusion inspired by the experiment. The final Harry Price had a keen interest in part of the film is of experiments in fire- the potential of film. He was involved walking with Kuda Bux. Bux was also a in setting up the Shakespeare Film stage illusionist who performed mind- Society and the National Film Library, reading and specialised in eyeless vision. a forerunner of the BFI’s film archive.

5 MAGIC’S SPELL ON SOCIETY

6 Secrets and revelations have been The 18th century saw a proliferation key to the development and tradition of both performers and publications of magic as entertainment. Many revealing the secrets of legerdemain. magicians kept their secrets, but many Henry Dean’s much reprinted The more shared them with the world, Whole Art of Legerdemain, or, Hocus inspiring imitation and innovation. This Pocus in Perfection (first published in section shows some of the motivations 1722) drew heavily on its predecessors and effects of these revelations and and was issued in more than 15 how conjuring and illusions have editions over the centuries. Numerous been part of culture and society. books exposed the techniques of the most popular performers of the time, One of the first printed records of including Comus, Pinetti and Breslaw sleights and illusions in English is for the amusement of their readers. Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584). Although it is not This period also saw the publication dedicated to conjuring, Scot included of the first magazine featuring revelations of the ‘art of iuggling’ legerdemain: The Conjuror’s Magazine alongside other evidence debunking (1792). The tricks and deceptions of false and superstitious beliefs in famous performers featured alongside the supernatural. Many of the tricks articles on astrology, the occult, described are still familiar today, and magic and Lavater’s physiognomy. later works on conjuring that followed often ‘borrowed’ from Scot’s chapter. Ideas of and claims of impossible feats became a common The first works dedicated to trope for satire in the 18th and 19th legerdemain did not appear until the century in cartoons and prints as 17th century with S.A. Rid’s The Art of well as texts, such as a rare work Iugling or Legerdemaine (1614) and Hocus by Jonathan Swift parodying the Pocus Junior (1634), which revealed claims of itinerant conjurors. the secrets of the and many other tricks through woodcuts The growth in the popularity of magic for the first time. These works and their in the late 19th century and early 20th imitators framed legerdemain as a century saw it adopted in spheres deceptive art, which a good practitioner outside the entertainment industry, will use for entertainment, while the as shown through pamphlets such reader should use the revelations to as Tricks for the Trenches and Wards, guard against tricksters and frauds written for convalescing troops in claiming supernatural powers. the First World War (circa 1915) and The Conjurer in Church (1928).

7 1. The Discoverie of Witchcraft capon. It also includes a section on the Reginald Scot (London: William Brome, 1584) attributes required by the performer – a bungler will bring the art into disrepute. This is the first book in English to explain Tricks must be nimbly and cleanly done the secrets behind the art of conjuring. so that the spectators do not discern Reginald Scot wanted the book to dispel them. He must practise to deceive eye, myths around witchcraft and belief in the hand and ear, be ready for all situations power of the supernatural in favour of and the use of strange words will both a more rational approach to the world. impress and lead away the eye of the The sections on legerdemain include audience. A version of the book was descriptions of how it has been misused first printed in 1612 and the author for unscrupulous purposes or to create has never been definitively identified. the illusion of the supernatural. This is The 1612 edition was sold by a Samuel followed by detailed descriptions of ‘the Rand, who sometimes compiled books art of iuggling’, which Scot describes as under the initials S.R. and could be Rid. commendable in the right hands. This is the section that was used by the many conjuring manuals that followed over the next two centuries. Ball, coin and card tricks, juggling books, making a person dance naked and decapitation are described, although not with practical instructions. The book also includes plates of apparatus used in legerdemain but not to illustrate the tricks themselves. These include trick needles and knives and the table used to perform a decapitation. The book was strongly condemned by King James I for its scepticism towards the existence of witchcraft. 3. Hocus Pocus Junior 2. The Art of Iugling or Legerdemaine (London: R. M[ab], 1634) Samuel Rid (London: George Eld, 1614) This is the earliest-recorded illustrated This is one of the earliest texts dedicated English book devoted to conjuring. The to juggling and legerdemain in English. content is taken partly from Scot’s and Much of the description of the tricks is Rid’s works, but with alterations, many taken verbatim from Scot’s Discoverie, additions, such as the Bonus Genius covering ball, coin and card passes, the and the Magic Kettle, and more detail. history of juggling, tricks with knives and It covers the usual tricks with cups and needles, charms, fraudulent alchemists balls, coins, cards and confederates. and restoring life to a hen, chicken or The woodcut illustrations are mainly

8 of the cups and balls. There is also an 5. The Whole Art of Legerdemain, illustration of the decapitation trick, or, Hocus Pocus in Perfection distinctly different to the one in Scot’s Henry Dean (London: A. Bettesworth, D. Pratt, book. Like Rid the anonymous author John Willis and Tho. Pettit, 1727. 2nd ed.) promised to teach the reader and warns against the misuse of legerdemain for Henry Dean’s Hocus Pocus followed in the deceptive purposes. The man behind tradition of Samuel Rid and the Hocus the book may have been William Vincent, Pocus Junior of borrowing much of its licensed under King James I to ‘exercise content from Scot. Like its predecessors, the art of Legerdemaine’. He used a the book starts by defining the parts mixture of Latin and nonsense words of legerdemain and gives a description in his patter, beginning with ‘Hocus of the operator. Description of the Pocus,’ and became known as ‘the tricks follows, including a magic lantern, King’s most excellent Hocus Pocus.’ producing eggs and hens from an empty bag and turning water into wine, with 4. A Rich Cabinet, with Variety many woodcut illustrations. The first of Inventions edition in Dean’s name appeared in 1722. John White (London: William Whitwood, 1677) Little is known of the author. He may have been a dealer in magical apparatus This miscellany of recreation activities for with a bookshop in Tower Hill: many ‘ingenious spirits at their vacant hours’ editions include notes offering tuition included fireworks, drawing, painting, and advertisements for apparatus from arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, H. Dean. However, he does not appear in mathematics and bell ringing. First any of the usual directories and registers published in 1651, it featured a few tricks, of booksellers. The book was reprinted such as the one displayed here, but did well into the 19th century in numerous not include a full section on legerdemain editions, many unauthorised, by several until 1658. The section has a mixture of different publishers in London and simple tricks, including making juggling elsewhere. An 11th edition, published books (a book in which the pages go in Philadelphia, was possibly the first from blank to illustrated as featured in magic book published in America. The Discoverie of Witchcraft), folding paper, conveying money and finding a coin on an 6. The Wonder of all the Wonders audience member using confederates. that Ever the World Wonder’d at The book was printed in 1712 with Jonathan Swift (London: J. Roberts, 1722) the title Hocus Pocus: or A Rich Cabinet of Legerdemain Curiosities, perhaps In the 18th century magic’s place to capitalise on a growing interest in in popular culture was reflected in legerdemain from a general audience. increasing use as a tool of satire. With its deceptions, and illusions, the language and images of magic lent themselves perfectly to political satire.

9 This pamphlet by Jonathan Swift uses the 8. Engaños a Ojos Vistas y Diversion language of the handbills of travelling de Trabajos Mundanos Fundada conjurors to attack the plans for a Bank en Lícitos Juegos de Manos of Ireland in 1721. The extravagant Pablo Minguet é Irol (Madrid: D. Pedro claims of impossible feats warn potential Joseph Alonso y Padilla, not before 1733) subscribers and supporters of the bank not to be taken in by grand promises that This was one of the leading Spanish will most probably end in disappointment. books on magic in the 18th century and An artist boasts of wonderful feats served as a manual for many generations involving gruesome assaults on the of conjurors. The author, Pablo Minguet audience which miraculously cause no é Irol, was a publisher, engraver and pain or damage. The finale involves the composer. He published books in Madrid conjuror taking ‘from any gentlemen, between 1733 and 1775 on a wide variety ladies, widows, orphans, all the ready of subjects for popular consumption, cash they can muster’ for his own use and produced at least five editions of and the advantage of ‘said widows etc. Engaños a Ojos Vistas, which was also and the benefit of the whole Kingdom,’ frequently pirated. His main source for and they will receive from this the same the text was Jacques Ozanam’s Récréations satisfaction as from any of his wonders. Mathématiques et Physiques, first published in 1698. The effect described here is a 7. Hocus Pocus: Die blow book or magic colouring book, one Taschenspielerkunst Leicht zu Lernen of the earliest pieces of prop magic. It Elias Piluland (Frankfurt and Leipzig, ca. 1730) involves the performer showing a blank book. As they flick through its pages, The content of Scot’s book also made its images and colours magically appear. way into European conjuring manuals. German versions and translations of 9. Arcana Mirabilia, ou, Magie Blanche Hocus Pocus Junior first appeared in et Tours de Physique & d’Escamotage the 1660s. They were often attributed (1824) to Elias Piluland in the preface, most likely a pseudonym. The conjuror in the The publication of manuals of frontispiece of this version from the early legerdemain and the of 18th century is demonstrating Bonus magician’s techniques revealed the Genius or Hiccius Doctius, in which a secrets of magic to a wider audience. small wooden figure is presented within Manuscripts, by their nature, have a much a cloak. He is then sent on an important more limited readership. This manuscript errand to a distant place or person. The has a title page with a date of 1824, a figure then disappears and reappears time when printing was entering an era in the cloak. The success of the trick of increasing mechanisation and mass depended as much on performance and production. This manuscript may have storytelling as sleight-of-hand skills. been produced for the personal use of its compiler, possibly commissioned

10 from a professional book dealer, or to be supplement and several other books on shared with a select audience. It is written magic that laid down some important in a neat, clear hand with diagrams principles. This translation of Decremp’s also drawn and coloured by hand. The first book has some omissions and many manuscript describes familiar tricks and additions, and perhaps set the style for novelties, mainly involving props. These magic books of the late 18th century by include transferring a ring into a lemon offering a description of a trick followed and cards into eggs, making wine change by an explanation, without illustrations. places with grain, cards in eggs and a One of the publishers, Thomas Denton, magic table, used to conceal props. also published the English translation of Pinetti’s response to Decremps. He was executed in 1789 for possessing coin counterfeiting equipment.

11. The Conjuror’s Repository (London: T. and R. Hughes, 1809)

Publishers and booksellers soon capitalised on the idea of exposing the methods of the popular performers of magic. This is an example of one of the many books produced that used the names of celebrities on the cover to sell the book. It contains dozens of tricks, 10. The Conjurer Unmasked some harking back to Scot and Hocus Henri Decremps (London: C. Stalker, Pocus such as passing a half-pence T. Denton and H. Brookes, 1788) through a table and reviving a chicken along with the standard definition In 1784 lawyer and diplomat Henri of legerdemain. Others are more Decremps published La Magie Blanche contemporary, such as Breslaw’s Learned Dévoilée – “White Magic Revealed”. It was Swan, a model that appeared to move on an exposure of the methods used by its own and spell out messages. It is one conjurors, one of the most successful of the few descriptions to directly credit a artists of the day, Giuseppe Pinetti, in performer. The book is presented chiefly particular. Decremps wanted to expose for entertainment and the descriptions the fraud of performers who profited are not entirely serious. ‘A notable Hocus from their audience’s ignorance rather Pocus trick with a cock’ instructs the than train his readers to perform reader to ‘get a cock, or, on Dean Swift’s tricks themselves. His content is based plan, the shoulder of mutton, get one, or more around his theories rather than if you can’t buy, steal one; no, take it from on knowing how it was done first the roost at night, or off its walk by day.’ hand. Decremps went on to publish a

11 12. Breslaw’s Last Legacy of the House of Orange’) and finding (London: 1792) a spectator’s card with the assistance of a figure of Mercury on a cloud. Phillip Breslaw was a German performer who first came to Britain in the 1760s 14. Conjuror’s Magazine and established an exhibition room at (London: W. Locke, 1792) 1 Cockpsur Street in London, as well Vol. 1 (nos. 1-11) as performing at taverns around the city. His popular performances were The Conjuror’s Magazine was the first noted for his impressive sleight-of-hand periodical to feature conjuring and skills with cards. Breslaw’s death was magic tricks. It was produced at a time mistakenly reported for the first time in when periodicals were becoming more The Gentlemans’s Magazine in November common and diverse in their subject 1783. Publishers were quick to cash in matter, with many specialist titles on this, with multiple brochures and appearing. The magazine featured booklets issued under the title Breslaw’s sleights by popular performers, such as Last Legacy from 1784. These were Giuseppe Pinnetti and Phillip Breslaw, often cheaply produced, sometimes alongside astrology, accounts of from remainder sheets, and had little apparitions and Lavater on physiognomy. to do with Breslaw himself. The tricks The conjuring elements were not present described were common to many editions for long and were reduced with each of conjuror’s secrets from the late 18th number. By the third volume they had century. Breslaw actually died in 1803. disappeared, and the periodical was renamed The Astrologer’s Magazine. 13. Table-talk, or, ‘Shreds and Patches’ M. Henry (London: John Duncombe, ca 1822)

Monsieur Henry was a Scottish or English performer who had appeared at the Lyceum Theatre and Astley’s Amphitheatre in 1788. He toured a show featuring mechanical amusements, conjuring and ventriloquism. In the 1820s he appeared at the Aldephi Theatre, and two pamphlets were produced of his table talks. These may have been souvenirs of his performances, as they simply describe his ‘astonishing illusions,’ 15. Art of Legerdemain. rather than revealing their secrets, along (London: J. Pitts, 1832) with a record of Henry’s narrative or patter. The illusions include transporting Broadsides or broadsheets were a lady’s ring into a piece of fruit (‘chains produced as cheaply as possible as forms

12 of mass entertainment. As such they were ephemeral and can be exceedingly rare. They were printed on one side of a single sheet and reused stocks of woodblocks for illustration on multiple sheets. This one on legerdemain promises to give concise instruction in learning the art, including the cups and balls, decapitating and reviving a cockerel, and stunts such as walking on hot iron bars and fire- eating. Imprints often record the printer of this broadside as the proprietor of the wholesale toy warehouse in Seven Dials, an area known for the printing and selling of cheap, crude ballads. This item was printed on half a sheet with a copy 17. Rules of the Magic Circle of the Gypsey Fortune Teller, revealing the Magic Circle – London, England secrets of physiognomy and palmistry. (London: The Magic Circle, 1925)

16. Mo Shu Ta Kuan In the 17th and 18th centuries the Wu-Hsi (1916) exposure of magicians’ secrets caused problems for many and forced them to In the 19th century Western performance adapt and improvise. In the 20th century magic frequently adopted Chinese, dealing in secrets, much cheaper and Japanese and Indian styles in stage easier to distribute through cheap sets, dress, tricks and even, in the case editions, magazines and periodicals and of magicians like , in magic dealers, became a threat to many complete personas. Works on Western performers’ livelihoods. The Magic Circle, magic were also adapted and published founded in 1905, to promote and advance in the East. This book (The Devil’s Art stage magic, holds secrecy among its From Top to Bottom: Exhaustive Exposé of main tenets. Its motto ‘indocilis privata Magic), features many tricks from western loqui’ means ‘not apt to disclose secrets’. conjuring manuals including magic The importance of secrecy was enshrined lanterns, optical illusions, trick tables, in its rules as seen here in a version the Sphinx, the Cabinet of Proteus and from 1925. Revealing secrets led to handkerchief and . The cover expulsion. Even the Circle’s first President, shows a trunk transposition, with the David Devant, was not immune. He was female performer being locked in one temporarily expelled for the second time trunk and then appearing from another. in 1937 after publishing a feature in The Windsor Magazine on his own illusions.

13 19. The Conjurer in Church T.V. Voorhees (Venetia, Pa.: The author, 1928)

Methodist minister, the Rev. Ted V. Voorhees, was inspired to use magic in his preaching after seeing a performance by Houdini in Erie, Pennsylvania. He started to use tricks in his sermons, to illustrate Biblical miracles. This book of religious-themed patter was self- published by Voorhees and features stories to accompany a particular effect. For example, he used the Inexhaustible Box to explain a story of the devine light enriching people’s lives. The book covers patter only with the tricks themselves in a separate publication Magic for Ministers. Voorhees included a note to warn potential readers that this was not the book for them if they were looking for tricks. 18. Tricks for the Trenches and Wards Draklof [Charles Folkard] (London: Jarrold, 1915) 20. Davenport’s The Demon Telegraph (London, 1933 ) Charles Folkard had a short-lived career as a professional magician at the end Davenports is one of London’s oldest and of the 19th century before returning most famous magic shops. The Demon to his main profession, illustration. He Telegraph was a serial publication with illustrated a number children’s books news items as well as adverts for its latest and created the ‘Teddy Tails’ comic strip tricks and novelties. The Demon Silks for the Daily Mail in 1915. He returned were a series of popular handkerchief to magic during the First World War props often with elaborate decoration. to create this series of two pamphlets With this series, Davenports featured under the pseudonym Draklof. They one of the celebrities of the day, a contained simple tricks with basic props, genuine Walt Disney Mickey Mouse. such as matches and coins, that could be mastered easily and performed by nurses or soldiers. The series must have proved popular, as it was reprinted twice. Folkard hoped the tricks would ‘provide many a bright moment in a tedious wait or dreary convalescence.’

14 Prints numbers. By associating Molesworth with conjuring, the satirist suggests the 1. Bartholomew Fair calculations are just another trick. J.F. Setchel (London, c. 1820) 4. L’Escamoteur Bartholomew Fair was one of London’s Louis Charles Ruotte, after Jean-François Bosio oldest summer charter fairs. Starting (Early 19th c.) in 1133, the annual Fair took place for three days around St Bartholomew’s Day. A conjuror performs tricks, including Its original purpose was as a cloth fair, the cups and balls for the amusement but it is best known as a pleasure fair, of a mixed audience. A small offering its visitors a range of popular animal is included as one of the entertainments. This print depicts the items emerging from the cups. fair of 1721. To the right is the booth of Isaac Fawkes, the most popular conjuror 5. Caroline Fair, or Mat Pudding of his day. In the banner above the and his Mountebank booth he is shown performing the Egg Theodore Lane (George Humphrey, Bag trick, in which a multitude of eggs 16 April 1821) are produced from an empty bag. The imagery of a conjuror’s booth at 2. ‘La Fameux Romain’ a fair is used in a satirical attack on Prévost (n.d.) Caroline of Brunswick, here taking the role of a conjuress with her supporters In this print the 18th century conjuror ‘La Henry Brougham and Thomas Denman Fameux Romain’ performs a range of in attendance as beefeaters. tricks in a refined setting, including an extra-large version of the cups and balls 6. Flyer for a performance with a child and pig. The depictions are by ‘learned cats’ notable for having an uncovered table, Signor Cappelli at Bartholomew Fair (1832) exposing the conjuror to greater scrutiny. Cappelli was one of the last conjurors 3. I.Calculator Esq: to perform at Bartholomew Fair. He The Celebrated Conjuror presented sleight-of-hand alongside A.B. (1776) his trained cats and a learned dog, and later took his show to the Cosmorama A satire on John Molesworth, who Rooms in Regent Street. Cappelli’s cats offered tickets for state lotteries in would beat a drum, turn a spit, grind the 1770s with numbers selected by knives, play music, strike upon an anvil, a machine. He claimed that his ‘curios roast coffee, ring bells, and the cleverest calculations’ offered better odds would draw water from a well at her for success than randomly selected master’s command in French and Italian.

15 The returns for magic booths were closed, and the instruments could were falling in the 1830s and the be heard by the audience. When the last Bartholomew Fair was held doors were opened, the brothers were in 1855 after years of decline. in the same position. The Davenports quickly became associated with 7. Mr Bosco, Prestidigitateur , which was becoming more une Taitbout, no.9 popular in both America and Britain. From ‘La Caricature No. 108 (29 Nov. 1832) The performance was presented as being a genuine supernatural The famous 19th century conjuror phenomenon. The Davenports’ spirit Bartolomeo Bosco is alluded to here effects were repeatedly exposed as in a satire on King Louis-Philippe from trickery, including by magicians John the French magazine La Caricature. Henry Anderson, Jean-Eugène Robert- The prestidigitateur’s patter begins Houdin and John Neville Maskelyne but with ‘nothing in the hands, nothing they continued to tour until William in the pockets, nothing in the pistol’ Henry’s death in 1877. Many magicians before offering the audience ‘explosion, in the 19th century introduced spirit detonation, conjuration, conspiracy, phenomena into their acts, reflecting arrest, emotion, reception, acclamation, the popularity of the Davenports and deputation, and… amazement!!!’ a growing interest in spiritualism.

8. Sketches at the Davenports’ Performances Australian Sketcher (30 September 1876)

Ira Erastus and William Henry Davenport had a huge influence on 19th century magic and society. From the mid- 1850s they toured America, and later the world, with their spirit cabinet routine. They were tied within a box with musical instruments, the doors

16 17 MAGIC AND INNOVATION

18 As the secrets behind the conjuror’s Ghost, the Indian Basket trick, the illusions increasingly became common Cabinet of Proteus and the séance knowledge, performers had to innovate act of the . in order to keep audiences entertained. This section shows how the art of Throughout the 19th century performers magic embraced science and technical continued to demonstrate effects and innovation to present ever more tricks that had been in use for hundreds impossible feats and used the language of years, but innovations also made and imagery of science in performance. large-scale spectacular stage illusions increasingly common and popular with In the 18th century, magicians began audiences. During this period, many to present well-known tricks of of the types of effects familiar with sleight-of-hand alongside innovative audiences today were established. new amusements. Automata, used by Isaac Fawkes at the beginning Magicians made people and objects of the 18th century, and scientific disappear and reappear, disembodied demonstrations became key features heads spoke, people levitated and and the subject of public fascination. ‘ghosts’ walked the stage. Invention Magic’s jugglers and street performers was key to ensuring magic’s enduring were transforming into professors and relevance in popular culture and magicians and moving on to the stage to audiences. As an art form, it and into the chambers of high society. had to embrace both new styles of presentation and revolutionary Magic as a refined theatrical techniques to survive and thrive. entertainment culminated in the mid-19th century with one of the first Although books often revealed the great performers of magic’s golden techniques of familiar tricks to a wider age, Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, audience, it is in the magazines and who combined artistic sleight of hand journals produced for and by magicians with technical innovations and highly that many innovations are found. From refined automata.Robert-Houdin the late 19th century onwards, reports examined and postulated on many on new illusions, theories on how they of the most popular stage illusions were performed, technical specifications of the day in one of his late works, and disputes over attribution filled the Magie et Physique Amusante (1877). He pages of magazines such as Mahatma, offered his own theories on Pepper’s The Sphinx and The Magician Annual.

19 1. Magie et Physique Amusante He opened his ‘Soirées Fantastiques’ Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (Paris: Calmann in Paris in 1845, a small, elegant space Lévy, éditeur, Ancienne Maison where the magician would perform in Michel Lévy Fréres, 1877) evening dress. He would retire from performing less that ten years later at the This posthumously published work was age of 48. Robert-Houdin’s programme a sequel to Robert-Houdin’s Les Secrets was structured around increasingly de la Prestidigitation et de la Magie. Here complex and surprising illusions. This Robert-Houdin examined and offered playbill is from his first engagement in explanations of some of the most famous London in 1848 and features some of and innovative stage illusions of the his most famous illusions, including a age. The book covers the secrets of the second sight act which his blindfolded Davenport Brothers’ séances and the son would describe objects provided manifestations of spiritualists, illusions by the audience and the Ethereal from the Egyptian Hall which included the Suspension. Another son would be Indian Basket Trick, the Protean Cabinet dosed with ‘ether’, which Robert-Houdin and the Sphinx Illusion. It also features his claimed would make him as light as a own Magic Portfolio, in which increasingly balloon. He was placed on supports elaborate productions are made from a which were gradually removed until he portfolio of engravings, from a bonnet, appeared to be floating in mid-air! to doves, to pans of beans, water and fire and finally, a child. The book was 3. An Attempt to Analyse translated into English by Professor the Automaton Chess Player Hoffman in 1879 and first published in of Mr De Kempelen parts in Routledge’s Every Boy’s Annual. (1821)

2. Playbill for performances by Automata were a common feature Robert Houdin and his ‘soirees of magic shows from at least the 17th fantastiques featuring automates, century. The chess-playing Turk was prestidigitation et magie’ at the a sensation of the age. Wolfgang von St James’s Theatre, London Kempelen presented what he claimed (1848) was an automaton to Maria Theresa of Austria in 1770, the figure dressed in Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin is widely Turkish robes behind a large cabinet credited as ‘the father of modern magic’. took on human opponents and defeated During his relatively short career as a most of them. The Turk went on to tour performer he changed the way magic Europe and America, including playing was presented and dazzled audiences Benjamin Franklin in Paris. The Turk with technical innovations and skilful was not a true automaton but was an storytelling. He started out performing illusion of an intelligent machine with a in amateur troops and at private parties human operator concealed within the and producing highly refined automata. cabinet. During its tours, many theories

20 on the Turk’s secrets were published, 6. Cuttings concerning a including this book on display from philosophical exhibition by Signor 1821 following its exhibition by Johann Pinetti at the Theatre Royal, London Nepomuk Mälzel in 1821. The author November 1784 - February 1785 concluded that the Chess Player involved no machinery and derived ‘its merit 7. Physical Amusements and solely from the very ingenious mode Diverting Experiments: Composed by which the living agent is effected.’ and Performed in Different Capitals of Europe, and in London 4. Head and shoulders pencil Giuseppe Pinetti (London: 1784) sketch of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, known as ‘Comus’, ‘quack’ doctor. Chevalier Giuseppe Pinetti was one of the most successful and celebrated 5. Series of cuttings for performances performers of the 18th century. He by ‘The Sieur Comus’, with had sold-out performances across handwritten annotations Europe, was the court magician of Louis (1793-1795) XVI and pioneered combining magic tricks and science in his ‘philosophical Nicolas-Philippe Ledru was a magician exhibitions’. He was billed as the and physicist. His exhibitions of Professor of Natural Magic but started as ‘physical, mechanical, and mathematical a teacher performing tricks and physics recreations’ combined scientific demonstrations for students in Rome. demonstrations with prestidigitation He was one of the first magicians to which involved light, electricity and establish himself on theatre stages with automata, including a hand that wrote his ‘cabinet of curiosities’ presenting down the audience’s thoughts. He first magic tricks, automata and experiments. appeared in London in 1765 in a small Pinetti published his only book in exhibition room, and the Gentleman’s 1784 possibly in response to an Magazine noted that he made £5,000 exposé of conjurors published by during his stay! Comus performed for Henri Decremps, La Magie Blanche European Royalty and Louis XV appointed Dévoilée, in the same year. The content him as his physician, giving him the title is distinctly different from earlier ‘Professeur de Physique des Enfants de conjuring books, including card tricks France’. Following the French Revolution, as well as mathematical, electrical and Comus was imprisoned during the physics demonstrations. It is the first Reign of Terror but survived and died a printed record of several tricks such as wealthy man in 1807. His success inspired making a ring move between hands and imitators, as these notices show, for fingers while the arms are restrained. another Comus, known as ‘Comus II’. He called himself the ‘Premier Physicien de France’ and his performances included conjuring tricks, miraculous machines and a thought reading mechanical swan.

21 8. Natural Magic, or, Physical was one of the first to do so. It is also Amusements Revealed possible that he was the first in Europe Philip Astley (London: Printed for the author, 1785) to perform an aerial suspension, and not Robert-Houdin, when he performed The name Astley is more associated with juggling ‘sitting in the air upon nothing’- the circus than magic. Philip Astley started this may not have been the same kind of out as an equestrian performer at his illusion but an acrobatic demonstration. own riding school before adding a variety of performance acts to exhibitions to attract bigger audiences. His successful amphitheatres in both London and Paris and his touring company earned him the moniker ‘the father of the modern circus.’ Astley also exhibited automata and tried his hand at conjuring with limited success. The content of Astley’s book is close to Henri Decremps’ La Magie Blanche Dévoilée (1784), and presents sleights, automata, gun and card tricks as experiments. The frontispiece depicts ‘The card nailed to the wall with a pistol shot’, which involves the conjuror firing a nail at a pack of cards that have been thrown into the air and skewering the card selected by the audience. The book also includes an early description of the famous routine.

9. Playbill regarding rearrangements in performances by Ching Lau Lauro after suffering a sprain at the Royal Coburg Theatre 10. Jeans’ New Era of Magic: (18 March 1828) Blown to Atoms. Walter Cerretta Jeans (Leeds: Jeans Ltd., 193-) Ching Lau Lauro was a popular entertainer in the 1820s and 1830s in This curious ‘prospectus for a new illusion’ England. Also known as Professor Ching, sees a magic inventor embracing the it’s likely he was English, or possibly a early atomic age. William Cerratta Jeans Cornishman adopting the style of Chinese started out life as a brass moulder before performers as a gimmick. Using Asian moving into showbusiness in a number dress and personas on stage became of different fields, including magic. common in the 19th century and Ching He patented a number of innovative

22 magical inventions, including the mirror 12. Scientific Mysteries: a tunnel principle, which formed the Collection of Simple and Effective basis of many production illusions, Experiments Illustrating Chemical, and Will Goldston dedicated a chapter Physical and Optical Wonders to Jeans in Further Exclusive Magical (London, Melbourne, Australia: 1891) Secrets. Blown to Atoms (1927) was never performed. The prospectus promises A later book that combines magic and an effect of great novelty and originality, scientific experiments. The emphasis of involving locking the performer in a this collection is more on the scientific, box and cabinet to which a live bomb is with experiments with gases, phosphorus, then attached, the fuse lit… of course, metals, crystallisation and even ‘nihilist Jeans did not give away the result! bombs’. Many are also associated with magic: invisible inks, inexhaustible 11. The Magician, or, Magic bottles, colour changing flowers and of the Sciences: Containing the diving imp, often featured in early Wonderful Exploits, Amusing conjuring books. Also featured are Experiments, Occult Sciences, some of the important optical illusions Mechanical Recreations, of 19th century theatre: stage ghosts, a Scientific Amusements, &c version of Pepper’s Ghost using glass (London: W. Strange, 1834) to reflect an actor’s image onto the stage and ‘Decapitation no murder’. This little book combines legerdemain, This is a description of the Sphinx scientific curiosities, feats of strength and Illusion, showing a seeming decapitated accounts of unexplained phenomena. but living head on a table, which is Although this book is very rare, combined with mirrors to conceal the books combining these subjects as head’s body from the audience. amusements for readers were common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, popularising both magic and experiments in chemistry and physics. The section on legerdemain closely follows the contents of 18th century books such as Henry Dean’s Hocus Pocus (1722) with descriptions of the secrets behind the cups and balls, card and coin tricks and tricks of confederacy. The publisher, William Strange of Paternoster Row, produced a mixture of cheap periodicals, political works and penny bloods - small, cheap editions of literature.

23 13. The True History of the Ghost; boys in a range of scientific principles, and all about Metempsychosis which emphasised the potential of John Henry Pepper (London: Cassell , 1890) science both to amuse and be useful.

Pepper’s Ghost was a sensation of the Victorian age: an optical illusion that produced the image of a ghost on stage through a combination of light and reflections through glass. It became associated with the name of Henry John Pepper but came from the invention of Henry Dircks. This book, written by Pepper over 40 years later, tried to tell the full history of the effect’s origin and development. Dircks developed his ‘Dircksian Phantasmagoria’ in the 1850s, but the set up could not be easily accommodated by existing theatres. Pepper was a lecturer at the Royal Polytechnic Institution and saw the potential in it. After some modifications to make it more suited to existing theatres, it was premiered by Pepper in 1862 and the two registered a joint patent the same year. Pepper went on to show the ghost at the Egyptian Hall, then America 15. Stage Illusions and Canada before settling in Australia. Will Goldston (London: The Magician ltd., 1912) The effect established the usefulness of glass in creating stage illusions. Will Goldston was a prolific writer and publisher of guides, biographies, 14. The Boy’s Playbook of Science histories and manuals of magic. Like John Henry Pepper, New edition many, his interest in magic began as (London: Routledge, 1866) a child and he had a short-lived stage career performing a black art act under Henry John Pepper was a showman the name Carl Devo. He founded his who saw the entertainment potential own society, the Magicians’ Club of in the Ghost and how to exploit it. London in 1911 after leaving the Magic But he was also a keen exponent of Circle with as the first science education. As well as lecturing president, and Harry Price serving as at the Royal Polytechnic, he established its librarian and later vice-president. educational classes in science and Goldston wrote and published many lectured in schools. This is one of several books revealing magicians’ secrets. This books he published aimed at educating book, largely compiled from material in

24 magazines, reveals the mechanics behind here. Selbit tied his assistant into an illusions acts. The cover depicts various enclosed wooden crate and divided it into versions of making a lady disappear. 8 parts, before she emerged unscathed. Several months later, Horace Goldin 16. Mahatma premiered his own version with the Vol. 1 (1898) familiar feature of the assistant’s head and feet emerging from the crate. The When it started in 1895 Mahatma magicians were involved in a legal battle was the only dedicated newspaper in over the ownership of the trick, but it’s America for magicians. The newspaper likely neither came up with the concept. features some of Harry Houdini’s Similar illusions had been performed earliest advertisements and he was in the 1870s, and tricks involving also its European correspondent. This decapitation and dismemberment issue features British magician David are some of the oldest recorded. Devant, who worked with John Neville Maskelyne at the Egyptian Hall in London. 18. Magician Annual Devant’s ‘spirit wife’ appeared as part (1908-09) of his first sketch- his version of ‘The Artist’s Dream’. Devant was an ingenious As well as books, Will Goldston also inventor of illusions and did much to published and edited several magazines drive innovation and modernisation in and journals, including Magician Monthly, the performance of magic, including The Magazine of Magic and Magician seeing the potential of early cinema. He Annual, published by the department introduced the Theatrograph, a British store Gamages where Goldston worked projection system invented by R. W. Paul, in the Theatrical and Entertainment to performances at Egyptian Hall, where Department. As well as features on it was first publicly exhibited in 1896. magicians and their tricks and illusions, the Annual also reprinted patents, a 17. Magic Circular wonderful source of information of Vol. XV (1920-21) innovations in stage magic. The patent featured here is by Charles Morritt, who The Magic Circular is the official magazine trained at the Maskelynes’ Egyptian of the Magic Circle, first issued in 1906 Hall and was the inventor and designer and published continuously since then, of numerous stage illusions. These making it one of the longest running included ‘The Disappearing Donkey’, publications on magic. This issue includes which was repurposed by Harry Houdini a report on one of the most famous to make an elephant disappear. illusions of all: . The illusion is usually attributed to inventor and performer P.T. Selbit, whose version, first performed January 17th, 1921 at Finsbury Park Empire, is described

25 MAGIC FOR ALL

26 Conjuring has long been popular among were aimed at young boys to entertain amateurs and hobbyists as well as ‘at the parlour or the drawing-room professional entertainers, particularly table or fireside’ and to relieve boredom. as a form of amusement for children Chemical and physical experiments are to entertain their friends and family. presented alongside sleights involving Manuals for beginners and amateurs cards, coins and handkerchiefs that were published in huge numbers, with could be easily mastered with practice. many successful performers offering to reveal the secrets behind their New generations of performers were magic and teach the reader tricks that inspired by Professor Hoffmann’s anyone could do. This section explores influentialModern Magic (1874). This the rise in popularity of stage magic, was the book Harry Price received to the success of books like Modern answer the questions of his childhood Magic, and the growth of specialist fascination with the secrets of magic dealers of magic tricks and books. and the one that began his collection. David Devant, the great magician of Early conjuring books included an the British Golden Age, cited it as one of element of instruction alongside the the two books that opened his path to revelation of secrets. Henry Dean, in success and it also inspired the author his Hocus Pocus (1722), offered to teach and dealer Ellis Stanyon. Modern any ‘person that is desirous to learn Magic inspired many generations of any part of this art.’ In the 19th century, conjurors, professional and amateur, instructional books became increasingly and covered all aspects of magic, common, revealing not only how it was from dress and performance to the done, but providing comprehensive secrets behind major stage illusions. instruction in techniques, skills, props and performance so that Dealers in equipment and books you could do it yourself. flourished in the early 20th century, with Will Goldston, Davenports and In the 1830s ideas of enjoyment and Hamleys among the most famous leisure in childhood were gaining names. Magic also became a marketing importance and magic tricks became gimmick to advertise cigarettes and an eminently suitable pastime for the other day-to-day products such Victorian boy. Books such as Parlour as chocolate and stock cubes. Magic (1838) and Every Boy’s Book (1852)

27 1. The Art of Conjuring Made Easy; or, the reader never suffers the disgrace Instructions for Performing the Most of being called ‘no conjuror’. Like much Astonishing Slight-of-hand Feats Victorian juvenile literature, the book (Derby: T. Richardson, n.d.) ensures that its amusements are also educational so that its young readers This chapbook, a small cheaply produced make good use of their leisure time. paper-covered booklet, takes it’s content from many other guides to 3. Every Boy’s Book of Games, conjuring from the late 18th and early Sports, and Diversions, or, The 19th centuries. Inside are tricks with eggs, School-Boy’s Manual of Amusement, cards and coins as well as the means Instruction, and Health of producing fireworks and explosions (London: Grieves, 1852) with phosphorus and gunpowder. The book was aimed at children, with an The roles of boys and girls became more advertisement on the back cover offering defined in the early 19th century and ‘children’s books, one penny each’ from began to diverge from each other. It the publisher Thomas Richardson. became increasingly important for boys Richardson published many editions in to attend school, rather than work, and the chapbook format in the 1830s and as a result they had more leisure time 1840s, including versions of The Whole and more autonomy than girls to make Art of Legerdemain and The Original use of that time. Books such as this were Norwood Gypsy; or, The Fortune-teller’s Sure intended to make sure that time was used Guide. The books were often issued with productively. Conjuring became a key part brightly coloured foldout frontispieces. of these books alongside other indoor and outdoor pursuits. It was deemed a 2. Parlour Magic fitting diversion for an ingenious boy to (London: Whitehead, 1838) entertain himself and his friends. The section on conjuring here is very similar This is an early book dedicated to magic to Parlour Magic, presenting simple and aimed at children, specifically boys. sleights that could be mastered with a The content of the book is wide-ranging, little practice and few specialist pieces covering optical illusions, transmutations, of apparatus. sleights and a ‘melange’ ranging from electric light to vegetable anatomy. The book makes some bold claims at originality, stating that many of the effects are appearing in print for the first time. It also makes grand promises to its reader, enabling him ‘to qualify the hero of his little circle to divert and astonish his friends, and, at the same to improve himself.’ Studying the book will ensure

28 he drew on material from books by Robert-Houdin and from Jean Nicholas Ponsin’s Nouvelle Magie Blanche Dévoilée (1853). British magician David Devant wrote in his autobiography that reading the book ‘opened up a new fairyland. I saw before me the road to success’.

5. Tarbell System of Magic, Vol. 1 (: Tarbell System, 1927)

Harlan Tarbell was a stage magician and illustrator. In the mid-1920s publishers T. Grant Cooke and Walter A. Jordan planned a correspondence course in magic. They first approached Harry Houdini to write the course, he declined and recommended Tarbell 4. Modern Magic: a Practical who completed the 60 correspondence Treatise on the Art of Conjuring lessons and over 3000 illustrations by Professor Hoffman [Angelo John Lewis], 1929. The course covered all forms 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 1877) and elements of magic. Tarbell placed an emphasis on training in the basics: Modern Magic is a landmark in magic ‘One must be trained in the mechanics, books. First published in 1874, it was the alternate methods and be skilled the first in a tetralogy of books –More in the presentation in order to meet Magic (1890), Later Magic (1903) and any conditions which may arise’. The Latest Magic (1918) – that for the first rights to the course were purchased by time attempted an encyclopaedic magician and dealer Louis Tannen in and instructional compendium of 1941, who published original lessons in performance magic. It was an immediate book form with additional content. The success. The first edition of 2,000 copies course continues to be an important sold out in seven weeks and the book reference source for magicians, and reached 15 editions by the end of the from 2016 Penguin Magic began a 19th century. The comprehensiveness video subscription version of Tarbell’s and accessibility of the book meant it tricks performed by Dan Harlan. became an effective textbook for aspiring magicians as well as a record of the contemporary practice of magic. The roots of the book were in articles that Professor Hoffman published inEvery Boy’s Paper. As well as his own knowledge,

29 6. The Boy’s Book of Magic: claimed to know three hundred tricks, Including Chapters on Hindu Magic, he replied that he knew eight. By that Handcuff Tricks, Side Show and he meant ‘for some years my repertoire Animal Tricks, Ventriloquism consisted of eight tricks, but I knew them Hereward Carrington (London: Routledge, 1921) thoroughly. I was always ready to show them at any time, at any place, under Hereward Carrington is best known any conditions’. Complete mastery of the as an investigator of the paranormal. performance of a trick was essential. He carried out many investigations for the American and English Societies for Psychical Research, including into the mediums and Margery Crandon. He was also an amateur conjuror and published on a wide range of subjects including psychical research, ghosts, the occult and fasting. This book is written for beginners, as well as advanced students, and Carrington claims to have included several original tricks, thanking Howard Thurston, Harry Houdini and for their suggestions. It is also indebted to Professor Hoffman and Carrington quotes heavily from Modern Magic. It covers card, coin, handkerchief and egg tricks and miscellaneous tricks such as ’s version of pulling a rabbit from a hat.

7. Lessons in Conjuring David Devant (London: Routledge, 1922)

This is one of many books David Devant 8. Sleight of Hand: a Practical published for keen students of magic. Manual of Legerdemain for Perhaps because he gained so much from Amateurs and Others reading books like Modern Magic, he saw Edwin Sachs, 2nd ed. (London: Upcott Gill, 1895) the value of sharing the secrets behind tricks and teaching the art of performing Edwin Sachs’ book was contemporary them. The importance of not just to Modern Magic but does not hold the knowing how to do a trick but knowing same place in the popular imagination. how to perform it well is emphasised. Nevertheless, with its focus on the skills Devant recalls an encounter with a required for sleights and misdirection young conjuror at the Egyptian Hall who rather than a reliance on apparatus it was

30 popular with many magicians. Sachs was a sporting journalist and the book began as a series of articles in the Bazaar Exchange and Mart before being collected in a book in 1877. The book is divided into drawing room magic, the performance space of most amateurs and ‘grand magic’ for the stage. The introduction emphasises the importance of the ‘conjuring-wand’ that the audience must believe is for show ‘it is, however, an absolutely indispensable article, both to beginner and proficient, as it serves as an auxiliary to the concealment of any item in the hand’.

9. Conjuring for Amateurs: A Practical Treatise on How to Perform Modern Tricks Ellis Stanyon (London: Upcott Gill, 1897)

Ellis Stanyon was another magician 10. The Magic Show Book who owed his initiation into the Alexander the Magician (New art to Professor Hoffman. As well York: Macmillan, 1937) as performing, he was a dealer in magical apparatus and books and This is a book aimed at the true beginner. published a periodical Stanyon’s Magic Compiled from the author’s columns which ran from 1900 to 1920. in Young America: The National News Weekly For Youth, it presents tricks that This is the first of several books he can be performed easily and ‘there is published on instruction in conjuring. no exceptional skill required, and all the It was followed by a book dedicated to apparatus needed can be built easily.’ The card magic and Stanyon’s Serial Lessons tricks get increasingly difficult through the in Conjuring, a multipart course in magic. book and it starts with the key warning Aimed at the amateur, practising magic to never reveal the method of a trick to as a hobby is emphasised as ‘it is a the audience or risk ruining the mystery. wholesome and moral one’. Nevertheless, Written for children, aged 10-14, the blurb Stanyon hopes to have presented promotes the book to boys and girls alike! something new with his volume to amuse his ‘confrères and the public alike’.

31 11. Will Goldston’s More Bland’s business appeared in The Times in Exclusive Magical Secrets. 1860-61, although this catalogue from the Will Goldston (London: W. Goldston, 1921) early 1870s claims it has been established for 20 years. The shop was situated The series of 3 books of magical secrets in New Oxford Street by 1863. Bland known as the ‘locked books’ are among issued the first of his lavishly illustrated Will Goldston’s best known works. catalogues in 1866, and it was pirated Goldston was often accused of publishing soon after. A special notice at the front magicians’ secrets without permission, of the catalogue calls attention to the but he saw it as a duty to document and unscrupulous thieves and their inferior preserve magic’s heritage and secrets copies of his products. The catalogue that magicians might otherwise take to includes apparatus inspired by Robert- the grave and ‘that is not fair play’. The Houdin and magical hats, bottles and series claimed to reveal unpublished bird cages among many other wonders. tricks and featured many well-known The most expensive item is ‘The fairy magicians. Its print run was strictly singing bird’, at £35. It is described as limited and it was sold for a relatively the ‘most extraordinary automaton high price. Each volume was issued with ever seen or heard in this country’. a padlock attached to prevent casual Following his death in 1898, Bland’s browsing and, when promoting the business passed to Hamley’s. first volume, Goldston proposed that all subscribers sign an undertaking not 13. Fry’s Cocoa & Chocolate album of to reveal the book’s secrets. The series cigarette cards depicting magic tricks was perhaps much more of a gimmick to promote Goldston’s businesses than 14. ‘Amusing tricks and how an exclusive revelation of secrets. This to do them’ copy was presented to Harry Price with (Published by Carreras Ltd.) the inscription: ‘Congratulations to friend Harry Price. You possess the 1st copy Cigarette cards were a form of trade many hours before other subscribers card, originally functioning to reinforce receive their copies. Best wishes, Sincerely cigarette packets but quickly becoming yours, Will Goldston. November 1921.’ collectable. Companies produced themed sets such as these as promotional 12. Illustrated Descriptive tools. Carreras was a London tobacco Catalogue with Prices of Conjuring company. Their 1937 series of 50 cards Tricks, Magical Apparatus, and of ‘Amusing tricks and how to do them’ New and Ingenious Puzzles feature cartoon illustrations with brief J.P. Bland (London: the author, 1873) descriptions on the reverse. Cards issued by Fry’s Ltd. are shown in an album. The The catalogues of dealers and sellers of series of 50 ‘Tricks and Puzzles’ cards, conjuring equipment can be a wonderful issued in 1924, have illustrations of tricks source for historical tricks and illusions. and simple instructions on the back. The first advertisements for Joseph

32 15. Collection of Catalogues Ltd. The business was founded as a mail of Magical Apparatus order company by Lewis Davenport, an W. & F. Hamley (London: Hamley Brothers, accomplished magician, as a teenager. various dates) It soon found a home for most of the 20th century in Bloomsbury, first in New Hamley’s is famous for being the world’s Oxford Street, then, Great Russell Street, oldest toy shop, and its Conjuring opposite the British Museum. Davenport’s Department was one of the biggest catalogues were often issued with alluring and most important centres for gold and silver covers and were richly magic apparatus and books. It sold to illustrated. Tricks and illusions featured professionals, amateurs and beginners. in these catalogues range from egg and The shop started selling conjuring watch bags to an act based around the items from the late 19th century. electric chair and the swallowing razor Notices in the first issues ofMahatma blades trick. listed Hamley’s Grand Magical Saloons in High Holborn as the newspaper’s 17. The Oxo’s Book of Magic: sole agents. These catalogues feature Mystifying Tricks Easily Made the latest tricks, with illustrations, (London: Oxo Ltd., 1934) packs of cards, accessories, magic books and magic sets. Several also This small pamphlet re-purposes simple, feature advertisements for Hamley’s classic tricks for use with Oxo products Entertainment Agency, which and packaging - an example of using provided ‘suitable entertainments magic for advertising and promotion. for every occasion and employ only Stock cubes stand in for die and balls and artists of refinement and ability’. magic words include ‘Fray Bentos – Best- Paste-for-Sandwichi’. It was sent to several 16. Illustrated Catalogue of the magic magazines and received positive Latest English, American and mentions, for the potential of its wide Continental Magical Novelties distribution to stimulate interest in magic L. Davenport & Co. (London: Davenport, 19--) and as an advertising gimmick. The Magic Circular noted ‘the lad who is interested Catalogue of Magical Apparatus, will soon be pestering mother for covers New Conjuring Tricks and Latest of meat paste jars, meat cubes, jelly cubes Amusing Jokes, Puzzles and Novelties. and all the other things this firm sells L. Davenport & Co. (London: Davenport, [19--) as they are necessary for the tricks!’

Davenports has been a centre of magic in London since 1898 and is the oldest continuously owned magic business in the world. Dealing in apparatus, tricks and books, it absorbed several other magic businesses including Will Goldston

33 MASTERS OF MAGIC & THEIR INFLUENCE

34 The history of magic is dominated Robert-Houdin was a key influence on by the personalities and stories of its one of the most famous magicians of star performers. Tales of ingenuity, all times, Harry Houdini, even down invention, great rivalries, battles to to his stage name. But this legacy master and top the latest illusion, soured for Houdini and he published stolen secrets, and fortunes and his own exposé in The Unmasking of fame made and lost accompany Robert-Houdin (1908). The book was part the magician through the ages. scathing attack on the ‘unoriginality’ of the master and Houdini’s own history of Covering the great performers of the magic, based on his collection of magical golden age of magic, this section begins material. Houdini shared Harry Price’s with those magicians often credited with passion for book collecting, as well as establishing magic as a theatrical art, their better-known activity investigating including , the mediums, and books were often Great Wizard of the North, believed to discussed in their correspondence. be the first to pull a rabbit from a hat. Magicians have presented and refined Magic has often created and famous illusions, which continue to perpetuated its own myths and legends: be performed today, and created an exciting backstory is as much part the figure of the magician in the of a magician’s performance as the popular imagination. Works on and by illusions produced. Magicians revealed performers featured in the exhibition and retold their lives and secrets in include the Maskelynes, who presented accounts which also contributed to many innovative performances at the setting the standards for the art. famous Egyptian Hall, Horace Goldin, who performed an illusion inspired by One of the most influential performers Harry Price, David Devant, and the of the 19th century, Jean-Eugène great American magicians, Alexander Robert-Houdin, created in his Herrmann, and Harry Keller. autobiographical account Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur (1858) the myth Key works that remain essential reading and image of the modern master for practitioners of magic also feature, of magic as an artist and inspired a including first editions ofMaskelyne generation of performers. As well and Devant’s Our Magic (1911) and The as an account of his relatively short Expert at the Card Table (1902), a book professional career, the book presented whose authorship is still debated. a highly embellished version of his life and exploits, including a mission to Algeria for the French government.

35 1. The Fashionable Science in England in 1825 before leaving for of Parlour Magic America in 1834 to find success. Blitz’s act J. H. Anderson (London: The Great Wizard of the included many of the tricks and features North, at his Royal Psycomantheum, ca. 1850-60) popular in magicians’ performances of the time. As well as dancing plates, he John Henry Anderson is one of the first performed the bullet catch and with great names of modern magic. Hailing automata and performing animals. The from Scotland, Anderson claimed biography was an extension of Blitz’s that the title ‘The Great Wizard of the stage persona, which claimed he was North’ was conferred on him by Sir born in Moravia and first performed in Walter Scott, but this was most likely an Hamburg at 13 after learning the secrets invention to embellish his reputation. of magic. This biographical detail was He began performing magic at 17 in possibly borrowed from another Signor touring companies in Scotland and the Blitz, as his tombstone states he was north of England, establishing himself in born in Deal, Kent. London theatres in 1840. His belief in the importance of creating a performance 3. Voyages et Séances that was more than just a demonstration Anecdotiques de M. Comte of skill but also entertained and Louis Christian Emmanuel Appollinaire Comte dazzled the audience helped establish (Paris: J.G. Dentu, 1816) magic as an important fixture of the stage. This book was possibly first Comte was the leading French magician published as early as 1840 and includes of the first half of the 19th century. He descriptions of many tricks, as well as was particularly noted for his skills with an early exposure of ‘spirit rappers’ cards and his mastery of patter and and mediums. Anderson popularised presentation. Robert-Houdin knew two of the most famous magic acts - Comte and considered him to be the pulling a rabbit from a hat and the bullet best example for conjurors to aspire catch. These were often featured in his to. This account of his exploits was elaborate posters and playbills. published early in his career, which lasted until 1854, shortly after he had 2. Fifty Years in the Magic Circle opened Le Théâtre Comte in Paris. It Antonio Blitz (San Francisco: Bancroft, 1871) includes his performance for Louis XVIII at the Tuileries Palace in 1814 during Several performers appeared in the first a celebration of the restoration of the half of the 19th century under the name Bourbon royal family. Comte replaced Signor or Herr Blitz. A feature common to the King of Hearts with a portrait of the many of their acts was the dancing plates. King during a card trick. He then fired John Neville Maskelyne saw a version of the portrait from a pistol at a vase of this as a child and later incorporated it flowers, from which rose a bust of Louis. into his company’s repertoire. The Signor Antonio Blitz of this book performed

36 many others. Lynn’s patter included the phrase ‘that’s how it’s done’ and it became a popular catch phrase, no doubt helped by this book. As a child, Harry Houdini was inspired by a Dr Lynn, but that is likely to have been an imitator who was riding on Lynn’s success by using his name.

5. Robert Heller, his Doings Robert Heller (Melbourne: H. Cordell, ca. 1875)

Robert, sometimes Joseph, Heller was born and began his career in magic in Britain, but it was in America that he made his name and had the greatest impact. His early programmes were an almost exact copy of Robert-Houdin’s but when he launched his career in America, ten years after leaving Britain, it was his combination of magic and humour with other entertainments that entranced audiences. His second-sight act with his assistant Haidee Heller, where she 4. The Adventures of the Strange Man would describe items brought in by H.S. Lynn (London: Gilbert & Rivington, 1873) audience members while blindfolded, was a sensation. With the dealer Charles Dr Hugh Simmons Lynn toured De Vere, Heller invented the Black many countries and this book, with a Art Table, which had a black top that frontispiece by George Cruickshank Jr, could accommodate compartments records his adventures. In 1864, Lynn undetectable by the audience. was possibly the first to perform Japanese Butterfly Trick in the West, which involved 6. Cutting of illustration, ‘Angleterre- paper butterflies dancing from a fan. Le colonel Stodare a Egyptian Hall-Le He claimed he had learned the trick tour indien du panier’ while travelling in Japan. From 1873 he (n.d.) presented a rival magic programme at the Egyptian Hall, the home of Maskelyne Colonel Stodare first performed at the and Cooke. It was a wide-ranging show, Egyptian Hall in London in April 1865. including spirit rapping and table-turning, He presented a number of illusions that clairvoyance, the Indian Basket trick, were new to the audiences and would aerial suspensions and the Palingenesia quickly become part of magic repertoires. – a decapitation trick that extended to The Indian Basket Trick, seen here, and removing the arms and legs – among the famous Sphinx illusion. The Sphinx

37 was invented by Thomas Tobin of the Polytechnic Institute and used mirrors to create the illusion of a disembodied head appearing on a table. Stodare first presented the Sphinx on the 16th October 1865; it was so popular that he was soon commanded to show it to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and the trick is pictured in the frontispiece of Professor Hoffman’s Modern Magic. Stodare’s career was cut short by his death from consumption less than two years after he first appeared on the Egyptian Hall’s stage.

7. Catalogue for an exhibition by Maskelyne and Cooke, Illusionists and Anti-Spiritualists, at the Egyptian Hall

John Nevil Maskelyne’s partnership with George Alfred Cooke began in 1865 when 8. Our Magic they built a spirit cabinet to expose the Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant Davenport Bothers’ séance act. In 1873 (London: Routledge, [1911]) they took a three month lease on a room at the Egyptian Hall, where they remained Our Magic was written by David Devant until the building was demolished in 1905. and Nevil Maskelyne, the son of John During their time there, the Hall became Nevil Maskelyne, to redefine how the known as England’s Home of Mystery. performance of magic was perceived. Maskelyne was a master at devising It stressed the importance of the art and presenting illusions and pioneered in magic. It was not keeping secrets or stage levitations. Some of their famous trickery that mattered, but the effect an illusions are depicted here, including act had that was of greatest importance- the automaton Psycho. Maskelyne was that came from the magician’s skill and also adept at employing other talented inventiveness. Maskelyne covers the performers and inventors including technical and performance requirements Paul Valadon, Charles Morritt and David of a magician, while Devant shows Devant. Maskelyne continued to be the processes behind effects and the a skeptic of spiritualism and founded importance of storytelling in performance. the Magic Circle’s Occult Committee to The emphasis is always on understanding investigate supernatural claims. that knowing how a trick is done is not enough – a magician must know how to perform a trick to perfection. The book

38 was not successful with general audiences Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser was one of but remains a key text for magicians. the most important card magicians of the 19th century and is known as the Father 9. Artifice, Ruse, and Subterfuge at of Modern Card Magic. His performances the Card Table: a Treatise on the were based on simple settings and small Science and Art of Manipulating Cards props that put his skills centre-stage. S. W. Erdnase (Chicago: Erdnase, c. 1902. Another He invented several techniques and edition Chicago: Frederick J. Drake, c. 1918) routines that continue to be used by card magicians, including ‘Everywhere Known by the title The Expert at The and Nowhere’ where three cards all Card Table, this book became one of turn into the audience member’s card. the most important in modern card Hofzinser’s legacy was first established by magic. In print continually since 1902, the publications of an Austrian magician, it has been translated into multiple Ottokar Fischer, pictured here with Harry languages. The book covers the Price in the 1930s. Unfortunately, Fischer techniques of card shapers and cheats got many details wrong and a recent including shuffles, cuts, forcing and major work by Magic Christian corrected palming with a section on card tricks. these and revealed new information The identity of the author is also one of about Hofzinser’s life and magic. the greatest mysteries of modern magic and has never been definitively proved. 12. Memoirs of Robert-Houdin: The illustrator of the book, Marshall Ambassador, Author, and Conjurer Smith, described meeting the author Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (London: in a hotel room; he was a well-spoken, Chapman and Hall, 1859) gentlemanly man who paid him with a cheque. Numerous candidates have Robert-Houdin’s memoirs were first been suggested, many based around published in French as Confidences d’un the theory that the author’s pseudonym Prestidigitateur in 1858, with the first was an ananym of E. S. Andrews. The first English editions coming the following edition, shown here alongside a latter year. The book featured stories from his mass-market paperback, was published introduction to magic by the travelling by the author and priced at $2.00. magician Torrini to his mission to Algeria for the French government to 10. J.N. Hofzinser’s Card Conjuring demonstrate the supposed ‘superiority’ Ottokar Fischer; edited, with notes by S.H. Sharpe. of French magic to local mystics. The (London: The Magic Wand Office, 1931) autobiography was highly embellished, if not entirely invented in parts, but this 11. Photograph of Harry Price was an extension of Robert-Houdin’s and Ottokar Fischer outside the belief of what it meant to be a magician. latter’s premises in Vienna For him, it was an actor playing a role, (n.d) creating a performance of perfect illusions. His autobiography, with its

39 colourful origin story and exploits, was posthumously from his notebooks a continuation of the performance. with the assistance of his widow, Bess This book, and Robert-Houdin’s other Houdini, also a performer, and Bernard works, were highly influential on the Ernst, president of the Society of generation of magicians that followed. American magicians. The author, Walter B. Gibson, was a professional magician 13. The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin and prolific author, ghost-writing books Harry Houdini (New York: The Publishers for several other magicians. Printing Co., 1908)

Harry Houdini was one of the magicians impressed by Robert-Houdin’s memoirs. As he was one of his chief inspirations for beginning a career in magic, Houdini even took his stage name from his illustrious predecessor. Houdini was also a passionate collector of material on the history of magic. Through his research, he began to resent the limelight that Robert- Houdin, in his view, received at the cost of other magicians. As he began to learn that there was little evidence for many of the stories in Robert-Houdin’s autobiography, this book, which began as an ambitious history of magic, became Houdini’s exposé of his former hero’s ‘dishonesty.’

14. Houdini’s Magic 15. Head and shoulders photograph Walter B. Gibson (New York: Harcourt, of Houdini, signed to Harry Price Brace, c1932) (14 September 1921)

Harry Houdini’s unexpected death in 16. From Harry Houdini To Harry Price 1926 meant that many of the secrets (dated 5 September 1920) of his magic and went to the grave with him. Houdini started in Harry Houdini and Harry Price card magic, billing himself as the ‘King of maintained a long correspondence. Cards’, but his fame came chiefly from It mainly concerned investigations his escapology and grand stunts, such as into mediums, particularly Houdini’s making an elephant vanish from the stage séances with Margery Crandon. They of the New York Hippodrome. Houdini also wrote on their shared passion did not publish a great deal on his own on collecting books, particularly early magic and this book was prepared conjuring books. Houdini amassed an

40 extensive library, of which he boasts in 20th century, The Comedians de Mephisto this letter to Price in 1920. His collection Co., also known as LeRoy, Talma and is now in the Library of Congress and Bosco. With her husband, Servais LeRoy, the Harry Ransom Centre. This portrait, she presented many innovative stage sent to Price in 1921, includes a note illusions including Asrah, a about one of Price’s prize finds: the effect which ended with the assistant first edition ofHocus Pocus Junior. vanishing in mid-air. Talma was also a highly skilled sleight-of-hand performer 17. The Sphinx and was known as the ‘Queen of Coins’. V. 4, no. 7 (1905) Here she presents her coin magic to the Penny Magazine, plucking coins from Women in magic are often in a minority thin air, recounting anecdotes from her and overlooked. They are present often performances and revealing the secrets of as assistants or appearing on playbills her palming techniques, such as palming named under their male counterparts, an astonishing 30 coins at one time. but also as performers in their own right. ’s career in magic 19. It’s Fun to be Fooled began with her husband Alexander Horace Goldin (London: S. Paul, 1937) Herrmann and their popular show across America. She was part of their innovative Horace Goldin was a stage illusionist who version of Robert-Houdin’s suspension received the title ‘The Royal Illusionist’ and their levitation illusions. Following after performing several times for Edward Alexander’s death, she continued the VII. He is best known for his version of show with his nephew, Leon Herrmann, ‘Sawing a Woman in Half’ and the resulting before striking out on her own. Adelaide legal battle with P.T. Selbit over the became known as the Queen of Magic. credit for the trick. He also had a curious She was renowned for her version of the connection to Harry Price. In 1932, Price bullet catch trick and skill with billiard conducted an experiment in black magic balls. Her successful solo act, mainly on on the Brocken peak in Germany. It was vaudeville stages, continued well into a ritual to transform a young man into a her seventies. She featured frequently in goat and attracted a great deal of press the magical and popular press and here coverage. Goldin, then on tour in Europe, appears on the cover of The Sphinx. sensed an opportunity and bought the same goat for an act. He recreated the 18. ‘The queen of coins: experiment as an illusion, successfully “Talma” talks about her tricks’ transforming the goat into a man. He in New Penny Magazine asked Price’s permission to play him in (London: Society for the Diffusion the act; it was given on the condition of Useful Knowledge, 1900) that the act was not a burlesque and was presented in a dignified way. Mercedes Talma was part of one of the most successful magic trios of the early

41 20. Herrmann the Great: the Famous stage shows specialised in illusions using Magician’s Wonderful Tricks apparatus rather than sleight-of-hand. He H. J. Burlingame (Chicago: Laird & Lee, 1897) was notorious for buying or ‘borrowing’ other performers’ acts, including French Alexander Herrmann was part of a magician Buatier De Kolta’s ‘Vanishing dynasty of French magicians who had Birdcage’ and ’s his greatest success on the American automaton ‘Psycho’ and levitation illusion, stage. He began performing with his which he audaciously walked onto the older brother, Carl, in America, and stage and examined mid-performance. launched his solo career in 1862. He After Herrmann’s death, Kellar was performed across Europe, including a America’s favourite magician until 1908, 3-year engagement at the Egyptian Hall, when he passed his literal mantle to his before returning to America in 1874. chosen successor, Howard Thurston. In 1875 he married Adelaide Scarcez and they toured as one of the most 22. My Life of Magic successful magic acts in America for the Howard Thurston (Philadelphia: Dorrance, c1929) next two decades. Although the types of illusion he presented were often Howard Thurston made his name in variations of existing tricks, Herrmann’s the early 20th century as one of the shows were particularly noted for their most skilled card magicians of the age, humour and his showmanship. He was earning the title ‘King of Cards’ for his one of the few magicians to actually performances of sleights and stunts. pull a rabbit from a hat, by taking a He was known for his version of the hat from the audience and dropping ‘Rising Card’, where audience members’ in a rabbit concealed in his jacket. cards were pulled from a pack by an invisible force into Thurston’s hands and 21. A Magician’s Tour, Up and Down then thrown into the crowd. Thurston and Round About the Earth joined Kellar’s show in 1907 before Harry Kellar (Chicago: R.R.Donnelly, 1886) taking over in 1908. His vaudeville touring company became one of the For 20 years Harry Kellar and Herrmann biggest in America with Thurston the Great competed to be America’s presenting many spectacular stage reigning ‘King of Magic’ and the successor illusions, including Kellar’s levitation and to Robert Heller. Kellar started with the Indian Rope Trick. His shows were the travelling magician the Fakir of Ava advertised with spectacular, colourful (Isiah Hughes) in 1864 before travelling posters depicting his spectacular feats the world and bringing back tricks and and announcing him as ‘Thurston apparatus that were new to American the World’s Famous Magician. The audiences. This book describes Kellar’s Wonder Show of the Universe’. In his travels to South America, India, Africa time Thurston was as celebrated as and Australia. It is edited by his faithful his sometime rival Harry Houdini. ‘familiar’, ‘Satan, Junior’. Kellar’s large scale

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