Biographies & History in Magic & Conjuring: page 4

This series of 14 articles was written by Edward Gallaway, aka S. W. Erdnase. It is a compact but thorough introduction to estimating for printers. For many years, Gallaway taught estimating to printers at the then largest privately held printing company, R. R. Donnelley. He was an instructor in their apprentice school and was at the same time the chief estimator of the company. He would later found his own School for Print Estimating in Chicago, the only such school solely dedicated to teaching this subject. He wrote the textbook for his school Estimating for Printers as well as other works...

This is a wonderful account of a traveling showman's trials and tribulations in England and Scotland during the middle of the 19th century. Among other things, he was a conjurer. While this is not a book of tricks, one coin trick is explained as part of one story of his life. But much more interesting are the descriptions of various scams and the modus operandi of various ways to defraud the public by traveling hucksters the author encountered. The operation of the thimble rig is explained in detail. It is an account of how traveling showmen struggled essentially their entire life to make...

Being a record of his experience as a white slave; a soldier in the Union Army; a professional gambler; a patron of the turf; a variety theater and minstrel manager; and, finally, a convert to the Murphy Cause, and to the Gospel of Christ.

This book is an illustration of this paragraph by S.W. Erdnase:

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...

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...

How does one actually become a magician - and why? Is it even possible to make a living from magic? What is life like as a magician? Are these normal people?

A person who has traveled with his art to more than 60 countries around the world will tell you his secrets. See him awarded second place world champion at the FISM World Congress of Magicians, with a show based only on sleight of hand. Learn how he became a self-taught expert manipulator. See how he booked his own gigs and was even hired as the only completely unknown actor for "The Dream Ship" on German television network ZDF. ...

Harry Kellar writes about his travels and adventures around the world. Very readable and entertaining.

1st edition, 1886; 214 pages.

9. Start in Life
20. The Bull Fight
28. Triumphal Tour through Mexico
38. In the Role of Prophet
43. Through South America
51. Around the Horn
56. Shipwreck and Reverses
59. First Bow in the Colonies
67. Dining with the Maharajah
73. Boar Hunt in Java
82. The City of Shanghai
88. At the Court of Ava
94. The Spiritualist Excitement
105. In the Punjaub
111. In Bombay
114. The Jugglers of India
121. In Africa
131. Hard Luck Turns
140. Before Her Majesty
148. Kimberley Diamond Fields
152. Substitute for Jails
160. Chinese Gordon
174. Among...

This is a wonderfully readable and fascinating description of magic and its history. Written by one of the scholars of magic - John Mulholland. Ben Robinson, the expert on John Mulholland whom he researched for more than 30 years, writes in his introduction to this ebook:

Once again Goodliffe provides a stimulating introduction to another archive series recording. This time the subject is Kalanag - Master Illusionist.

The live recordings from Sim Sala Bim have been drawn from various sources. Without the marvelous introduction by Goodliffe this recording would simply be a record of the past but now, Kalanag lives again. Goodliffe was the first British magician who was allowed to see Kalanag's show from backstage.

Goodliffe starts with a short introduction on Helmut Schreiber, aka Kalanag, including some of his Nazi background, accusations, and counterpoints....

When George Schindler wrote his book Amedeo's Continental Magic he used his tape recorder frequently to capture some of the remarkable Amedeo stories. On this recording George introduces Amedeo and we then hear Amedeo himself talking about his life and times in working for over 65 years in more than 23 countries. In 1972 the New York Society of Magicians named Amedeo as "Magician of the Year." Here is your opportunity to hear him talking about some of his experiences.

Recorded October 20th, 1973. Length 52 min.

This is Val's own life story. Val is one of magic's most prolific writers and he draws from his vast magical experience as he recounts the story he knows best - his own. To people who know magic and the Show-Biz scene this is a marvelous recording to listen to.

This is a licensed reproduction of the famous Magicassette series created by Martin Breese - now owned by Lybrary.com.

runtime 1 hour

This 60 minute recording includes the very best of the great Sid Lorraine. This is a happy mix of talk about magicians, how he got started in magic, heavily interspersed with magic you can do. There is a substitute for the pass, a gold fish bowl production (without the bowl), a card trick that baffled Blackstone.

Craige Snader in Magic Sounds said: "...it is great value as you get a magic lecture by one of the greats that you can listen to over and over. A great tape for study or just pleasant listening."

This is a digitally re-mastered (MP3) version of the original MagiCassette™ released...

Dr. Cannon was probably magic's most unusual character. He lived for many years on the Isle of Man where he ran a healing sanctuary. He had his own fully equipped theatre - The Enchanted Hall. Goodliffe, who was afflicted by a crippling disease, was encouraged by Dr. Cannon to take a free course of treatment.

Goodliffe knew Cannon well as a result and provides an absorbing portrait of this man on the recording. Of course you hear Cannon speaking as well. Fraud, fake or genuine mystic? Decide for yourself after listening to yet another voice from the mysterious past.

Believe it or not,...

Listen to one of the old timers talking about his friendship with Dai Vernon, T. Nelson Downs and many other big names. If you haven't read the Magic Of Faucett Ross by Lewis Ganson, then this recording will send you to your nearest magical dealer to buy it. If you have the book, then you will see how Lewis Ganson used the material of this recording to create the classic book. One of the funniest recordings in our collection.

This is a licensed reproduction of the famous Magicassette and MagiCD series created by Martin Breese - now owned by Lybrary.com.

This ebook draws on the contemporary and other accounts to examine the persona Houdini created, having been born one Ehrich Weiss in Hungary prior to immigrating to America as a young child. It recaptures the era of variety and some of the acts that were rivalling Houdini. It explores in detail Houdini's clash with Carl Mysto in Salford in 1904, which had Houdini taking the unprecedented step of exposing his rival's coffin escape on stage. It also tells the story of Jack Wilson, a blacksmith, who claimed to have beaten Houdini at his own game following his challenges to Houdini in Blackburn and Bolton...

This ebook examines some of Houdini's escapades in Lancashire, England and explodes some of the myths that the world famous escapologist built up around himself. It draws on contemporary newspaper accounts and sources. Amongst other stories it relates closely the controversy surrounding Houdini's appearance at the Palace Theatre, Blackburn, England in October 1902 when he faced one of his severest challenges from William Hope Hodgson, who was to go on to be a writer of fantasy literature before his death in the First World War. Houdini, a master of showmanship and publicity, was able to exploit the ordeal...

The ebook tells the stories of 'Dr' Walford Bodie and 'Sir' Alexander Cannon both flamboyant magical characters of the last century. Walford Bodie was a magician-showman known to Houdini who sent him the actual electric chair from "Sing Sing" prison. Cannon was also an eccentric character suspected by MI5 of being a spy in World War II!

The cover features caricatures of Bodie and Cannon specially designed by magic graphic artist Donald Monk.

1st edition 2005, 1st digital edition 2013, 77 pages, 29 illustrations.

This is a biography of Chris Van Bern (1872? - 1950) christened The Busy 'B' by The Magician Monthly in 1911 because of his versatility as a variety performer. His presentations were original and he was something of a 'character'. He became a member of so many local magic clubs throughout the UK that it is believed his record has never been surpassed by anyone. He was Honorary Vice President, for example, of The Modern Mystic League (Blackburn & District Society of Magicians), and The Order of The Magi (Manchester). A generous man to all magicians he co-authored A Whirlwind of Wizadry with De...

A Warlock's Wandering is one magician's memories of his journey along the eternal path of wonder. It is my sincere hope that within its pages you may find something of value in presentation, thought, adaptation, and dressing. Between the lines are little gems of wisdom and knowledge gleaned from the many performers met over the last sixty seven years.

1st edition 2015, 57 pages.

From the introduction:

In this ebook, George Boston, old time magician, takes his readers behind the scenes of the magic shows. Associate and confidant of the great men of magic, he recalls the greatest "tricks" in his memory and in many cases tells "how it was done." The great names of magic - Thurston, Blackstone, Houdini, Kellar, Carter and Nicola - appear in these pages. The book is liberally illustrated with many photographs, and is written in the highly readable style that has made Robert Parrish's For Magicians Only and New Ways to Mystify such popular favorites.

• About the Authors
• Introduction
• 1 How I Became a Magician
• 2 The Illusion Show
• 3 Thurston's Mysteries of India ...

There once was a dream world that travelled at night on a train full of possibilities. This was the Golden Age of the circus (1880-1930s). Aboard this magical train, you would find circus performers, a menagerie of exotic animals and those known as "freaks".

Also called human prodigies, the "freaks" were born with special physicalities. Among these were giants, midgets, siamese-twins, etc. All were gathered inside a giant tent known as the sideshow (or annex attraction).

Get ready to see many astonishing if not shocking pictures. The Archives of Human Prodigies is published in three...

Freaks, strange people, monsters, and even prodigies are some of the words used to describe the human beings that you will find in this ebook. While we realize that today many of these words might be considered "politically incorrect" we have taken the liberty of using these terms insofar as to better communicate the mindset of the sideshow people of that era. No disrespect is intended.

At the time, sideshows went by many different names, among these: dime museums of one kind or another and tent attractions, fronted by huge banners, depicting very unusual people and or animals. Curiosities...

More unusual people including super fat, slim, tall, small, and many other freaks of nature. Learn about giants such as Chang Yu Sang, Edward Beaupré, Allen E. Tilden, Conrad Furrows, Bimbo, Sgt. Emmet M. Stephens, Capt. George Dowling or John Aasen. Or perhaps you are more interested in midgets such as Lynn Major White, Lia Graf, Tom Thumb, Major Rhinehart, Doletta Boykins, and Major Mite. Many more identified and unidentified prodigies are documented.

1st edition 2013, 62 pages.