Biographies & History in Magic & Conjuring: page 1

A wonderfully interesting confession of a con man who was a contemporary of Erdnase, and just like him operated for a time while traveling with small circuses in Illinois and surrounding states. Of particular interest is a full dialog of how an unsuspecting person on the train was lured into gambling 3 card monte. The dialog demonstrates how skillfully these operatives were and how well they understood human nature. Other cons are also described in detail.

Excerpt from the preface:

Way back in 2005, I began broadcasting a world-first: an hour dedicated to magic, live from London. At the time, I was presenting my breakfast show on commercial radio. Every Monday evening at 7pm GMT, the airwaves went live with Radio Magic. Each episode featured a ten-minute interview with a famous star of magic (see The Magic Interview Series ebook). As a spin-off from that year-long project, I recorded a few long-form interviews with magicians and these recordings became available as CDs: thus, the Magic Interview Series was born. Looking back, I was podcasting before podcasts! Now, for the first time ever, these...

A docu-drama (dramatized documentary) on the identity of the mystery author of a classic book on sleight-of-hand with cards.

The best magicians of the 21st century set out on a journey to search for the lost author of the most legendary book about the art of sleight of hand. S.W. Erdnase is the pseudonym of the man thought to be the most notorious card shark of the 19th century. His book The Expert at the Card Table is now considered the card conjurer's bible, making it compulsory reading for any magician. It took more than 30 years after its publication for the true value of the book to be appreciated. His true identity remains...

The Delphos Kleeblatt, a German newspaper, was established by Carl Jettinger in December 1889 on a suggestion by Edward Gallaway. It ran until 1905. Gallaway approached Jettinger with the idea, having just returned to Delphos from a stint as a typesetter at a German newspaper in Indiana, and convinced him to partner with him in this newspaper startup. However, before the newspaper was launched Gallaway changed his mind, left Delphos, moved to Ft. Payne in Alabama and started there the Payne Weekly People. Carl Jettinger, a bit miffed by first being convinced of the great idea, and then Edward bailing out...

Spirit materialization and fraudulent mediums.

A record of research and experiment in a much-talked-of realm of mystery, with a review and criticism of the so-called spiritualistic phenomena of spirit materialization and hints and illustration as to the possibility of artificially producing the same.

Excerpt from the author's preface:

The trials, tricks and travels of Carl Hertz the famous American illusionist.

A highly readable and informative autobiography that takes Carl Hertz around the globe. Hertz was born as Leib Morgenstein in San Francisco, the son of Russian and Polish immigrants. He started with showbusiness in Northern California at a young age and had initially little success. Nevertheless, Carl Hertz went on to create a distinguished international career as a stage illusionist and debunker of fraudulent mediums and other scammers.

CHAPTER I
My boyhood - Fascination which conjuring has for me - I am discharged...

There are not many short biography compilations in magic and this one by Goldston is still one that is being consulted frequently. The most extensive one is by Bart Whaley (Who's Who in Magic) but while Whaley covers many more magicians he does not include portraits. Goldston includes many portraits of magicians and his biographical sketches can sometimes be much more extensive than in other such compilations. Goldston groups magicians as professionals, semi-professionals, and amateurs. He covers 90 professional magicians, 50 semi-professional magicians, and 69 amateurs.

1st edition 1934, 114 pages; PDF...

The biography of a great artist and creative of the Italian and international magical world.

Fifteen years after his death, the artist, magician and writer Roberto Bombassei, through a work of research and study, pays tribute to his mentor by publishing for the first time his biography: his beginnings, his path, his studies, his thoughts, his creations.

Foreword by Tony Binarelli. English translation and additional notes by Biagio Fasano.

• Foreword By Tony Binarelli
• A Few Words From The Author
• The Birth
• The Meeting With Fred Kaps
• Parapsychology: A Bit Of Truth And A Lot Of Scams
• Parapsychology...

This is the article that ran in The Sun on November 1st, 1926 after Harry Houdini's untimely passing.

• Friend of Ingersoll
• Body Coming Here
• Born in Wisconsin
• Tricks of Every Kind
• Mediums Interest Him
• Investigated 'Margery'
• Deny Injury in Montreal

1st edition November 1st, 1926, PDF 5 pages.

Stories of card and revolver play, told by a man who "worked" the trains with his confederates in the days when stakes ran high.

If one believes this account, then a lot of the crooked gambling on trains was simply theft at gunpoint rather than sophisticated sleight-of-hand card advantage play.

1st edition 1910, PDF 7 pages.

This article about highly unusual and uncommon hands at Whist and Poker as reported in the press was written by Charles Dickens for his publication All the Year Round. It includes a reformatted as well as a facsimile version of the article.

1st edition 1876; PDF 8 pages.

The actual experiences of a visitor to the most famous gaming resort in the American metropolis.

Excerpt from the introduction:

This is an excellent series of articles on the history of gambling in America. Excerpt from the introduction:

• Preying Upon the Wage Earners
• How They Prey Upon One Another
  • Where Every Boy Had to Learn Poker
  • Gambling "Commercialized" and Organized
  • "Square" Gamblers all "Broke"
  • The Story of Hot Springs
  • Politics and "Business" Worked for "the Game"
  • The "Open" Season of 1912-13
  • Something Bound to Happen
  • As the "Straight" Gamblers Saw It
  • Why...

A sketch of the life of Henry Meyer a converted gambler.

Henry Meyer was by his own account a very successful gambler who would play predominantly in Europe. One day he played against a young man and won all his money. Subsequently, that young man took his own life. At that point, Meyer realized that the young man was his younger brother. This charring experience made him give up gambling completely.

While I don't doubt that Meyer was a professional gambler who would later reform and give up gambling, the story with his brother rings a bit too fantastic. It is hard to believe that he and...

An informal history of gambling in America from the colonies to Canfield.

Inside flap:

This is a celebration of Sorcar's success as a magician. Several authors, reviewers, and commentators write about Sorcar and his performances. This is followed by cartoons by Alias and photos depicting Sorcar in various places.

• Preface
• John Booth - Sorcar: Greatest Illusionist in Indian History
• Arthur Leroy - It Can't Be Done
• Krishan H. Gandhi - Sorcar: The Master Magician
• Gasho Ishikawa - Sorcar In Japan
• Goodliffe - Sorcar: The World's Greatest Magician
• Burns Scandrett - Sorcar in Australia and New Zealand
• Jay and Frances Marshall - He Really is the World's Greatest Magician
• Ronald Murray Shanik - The Great Sorcar:...

This multi-part article starts with some historical perspectives and then is largely about the evils of gambling. However, it has a section on crooked play which is interesting for historical reasons. The topics covered in the section are:

• Reflectors
• The Longs and Shorts
• Convex and Concave Cards
• Pricked Cards
• The Bridge
• Skinning
• Shuffling or Weaving
• The Gradus, or Step
• Palming
• The Telegraph
• Dice and Dice Boxes
• Unequal Dice
• Loaded Dice
• Cogging, now called Securing
• Scratched Dice
• The Doctored Dice-Box
• Sauter La Coupe (the pass or shift)

1st edition 1837, PDF 73 pages.

Life and adventure on the prairies, mountains, and Pacific coast.

Beyond the Mississippi is a travel log of Albert Richardson from a few years before and after the American Civil War. As the title suggests, he traveled west of the Mississippi through states and territories such as Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Iowa, Oregon, California, Nevada, etc. He describes nature, people, politics, and commerce. It includes exciting adventures as well as fairly dry facts such as how many bushels of grain a particular area produces. Overall it is quite readable and the...

For the first time explains and demonstrates the great secret of her marvelous power.

In this autobiography, Lulu Hurst tells her rise to fame and fortune by performing acts of incredible strength on stage. She does this with personal recollections as well as quoting from various newspaper reports. At the time she performed many attributed her strength to some as of yet unknown or unexplainable force. But she had no unusual strength or the aid of any special force. She cleverly used mechanical principles as well as showmanship to make it appear she had super-human strength. In the second...

As produced in the spectre drama, popularly illustrating the marvellous optical illusions obtained by the apparatus called the Dircksian Phantasmagoria being a full account of its history, construction, and various adaptations.

Henry Dircks was the first who came up with the stage illusions that later became known as Pepper's Ghost. He had an arrangement with Pepper, they took out a patent in both their names, and Dircks did not want any monetary remuneration for it. John Henry Pepper improved the configuration to make it more practical and successfully staged it earning quite a lot of money with it. However,...

John Henry Pepper took a projection invention of Henry Dircks, called The Ghost, with his permission, and made it practical so that it could more easily be performed. He earned a lot of money staging it. Even though Dircks did not want any payments from Pepper, there was a falling out between the two because the invention became known as Pepper's Ghost. Dircks wanted to have his name associated with it. This prompted Dircks to write The Ghost. Pepper's answer to that publication and dispute came almost 30 years later in this work The True History of the Ghost.

He also includes the history and working of Metempsychosis...

An account of the author's professional life; his wonderful tricks and feats; with laughable incidents, and adventures as a magician, necromancer, and ventriloquist.

Excerpt from the Preface:

Reminiscences of the life of humorist Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) and pictures of a showman's career in the Western world.

A wonderful account of show business by the example of the humorist Artemus Ward during the 19th century. In particular, it describes how performers had to travel through the US during the 1860s, how they had to advertise and promote their shows, including the characters they encountered and the situations they had to master.

For conjurers most interesting is chapter 25: Spiritualism And Conjuring. This tells of how Hingston and Browne helped a conjurer by...

Indian Conjuring is an illustrated guide to Indian magic tricks by Major L. H. Branson, a British officer in the British Indian Army and magician. It includes explanations and step-by-step instructions for a variety of magic tricks that the author came across while serving in colonial India during the early twentieth century.

• CHAPTER I: A Comparison
• CHAPTER II
• The Cup And Balls
• CHAPTER III: The Bamboo-Sticks
• The Ring On The Stick
• CHAPTER IV: The Glass Box
• CHAPTER V: The Bowl Of Rice
• CHAPTER VI: A Rope Trick
• The Swastika
• The Egg Bag
• CHAPTER VII: The Dancing Duck
• CHAPTER VIII:...