Biographies & History in Magic & Conjuring: page 6

This is Goodliffe's own story. The facts and stories about Abracadabra from the man behind it all. Goodliffe has seen more magicians at work than anyone else and he has very clear views about what makes magic tick. Now that Goodliffe is no longer with us this is your only chance to hear Goodliffe speaking. Absolutely fascinating material.

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

runtime: 45 minutes

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,...

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...

This is volume 2 of The Ganson Story, recorded by Martin Breese to capture some of the essence that made Lewis Ganson the great writer of magic literature that he was.

(Here you will find Volume 1.)

runtime: 1 hour

"In all the world of magic, I don't think you could find a fairer, squarer person than Lewis" - Dai Vernon, Genii December 1974.

"As I look at the literary scene of magic today, the name of one man stands out above all the rest and the owner of that name is my old friend Lew Ganson." - Peter Warlock, Genii, December 1974.

Martin Breese writes in the original description of these tapes:

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. ...

A Sampling of categorized magical collectibles. Jim Kleefeld is a magic collector and writes for the M.U.M., the official organ of the S.A.M.

The Eclectic Collector will present to you a set of chapters that each delineate collectible artifacts in a category. The categories are a broad mix and the artifacts will vary in number. In some categories there are so many good examples, ten did not seem sufficient. In other categories, there are so few examples, that finding ten is extremely difficult.

Each chapter includes several photos of objects from Jim's collection within the category. These...

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:

The hunt to find the true identity of S. W. Erdnase, the author of The Expert at the Card Table, published in 1902 in Chicago, has been raging for more than a century. The book is as revered by gamblers and magicians as the Bible is by Christians.

One of the first and most active Erdnase hunters was well-known science writer, puzzle expert, and magician Martin Gardner, who erroneously thought he identified cardsharp and murderer Milton Franklin Andrews as being Erdnase. After Andrews, many other candidates were proposed, but none had a case strong enough to withstand scrutiny. None wrote like Erdnase, nor had sufficient opportunity, nor even...

The record of a career famous for adventure and vicissitude, and in which the jester won more tricks than the gamester.

• Preface
• Chapter I: Birth And Early Peregrinations
• Chapter II: Becoming A Patron Of The Pasteboards
• Chapter III: Early Times On The Mississippi
• Chapter IV: Getting A Sobriquet And Meeting Great Men
• Chapter V: The Turnpikes, The Packets And The Inns
• Chapter VI: Initiated In The Sons Of Malta
• Chapter VII: From The Green Mountains To Pike's Peak
• Chapter VIII: With The Bold Soldier Boys
• Chapter IX: The Fraternity Of Gamesters
• Chapter X: To Point A Moral And Adorn A...

This is the first real history of magic in the English language. It first appeared in serialized from in The Magic Wand.

Sidney W. Clarke tells the story of magic from its earliest traces in recorded history, all the way to the celebrated masters of Robert-Houdin, Maskelyne, and the ones who followed them.

[Note: This edition was newly formatted for convenient reading and searching on mobile devices.]

1st digital edition 2013, 288 pages.

Table of Contents

4. Introduction
9. Ancient Conjuring
15. The Mediaeval Jugglers
29. The Jugglers’ Tricks
43. Hocus Pocus
57. The English Showmen
88. Continental Conjurers In The XVIIIth Century
114. The Decline Of Conjuring
127. The Wizard Of The North And The Mechanical Conjurers
158. Robert-Houdin ...

The Amazing World of John Scarne holds revelations and experiences in gambling, magic, carnival and show business; together with startling disclosures about hypnotism, extra-sensory perception and other mental effects.

The once world's number one expert on gambling tells in this no-punches-pulled, startlingly frank book the whole inside story of gambling, and reveals all the dodges, gimmicks and tricks used by cheaters at dice, cards, roulette and other games of chance. His sensational revelations extend also to magic and escape tricks, to the chicaneries of carnivals and even to the blasting...

A witty memoir-like debunking of all things paranormal.

Stuart Cumberland describes the fascination of European kings and queens with the occult. He gives a detailed analysis of how Rasputin participated in the fall of the Romanovs. He thoroughly skewers the German government of Wilhelm II. He describes the fake spirit photography, the false claims of clairvoyants, how folks fall for physical manifestations of the spirits such as table rappings. Overall a fun read and expose of human gullibility.

• Chapter I: By Way Of Introduction
• Chapter II: Monarchs And Mystics
• Chapter III: Concerning...

Val Andrews recreates the master in Tell Them You Saw Dante and takes you back to the days of Sim Sala Bim. Val Andrews impersonates Dante. A remarkable insight into Dante the man and the performer. Val takes us behind the scenes with this great performer and the whole recording is rather in the style of a radio broadcast featuring extracts from Dante.

This recording was originally created and released by Val Andrews. In 1977 it was purchased by Martin Breese and is now owned and copyrighted by Lybrary.com.

runtime 45min

Known as The Tabman, Tabby Crabb moved through the innercircles of Close up and comedy magic for two decades both with his skill at crafting magic accessories like the famous Tabman Tables, Casino Chips, Knife through Arm, fine hardwood magicians' Wands and much, much more and appearing onstage and backstage with Amazing Johnathan and Kozak the Magician. Additionally Tabman spent five years as the hotel shows director for The International Brotherhoond of Magicians.

This ebook tells the truth about many relationships in the magic field. Relationships with customers like Max Maven, Harry Anderson...

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

Inside flap:

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.

Poker stories from the Mississippi.

The stories play in Brownsville and Arkansas City both located on the West bank of the Mississippi river during the second half of the 19th century.

Excerpt from the preface:

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:

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:...

From the introduction:

A 'magical' autobiography and an inspirational book.

• 1+ million people have seen him live in 165+ countries
• 15+ million views on YouTube with over 1000+ videos
• 180+ TV shows and multiple prime time TV series
• thousands of global online students
• 40+ Books and best-selling author
• TedX Speaker
• Known as the German with a South African accent

Can you believe it! A non-US, UK, or Europe magician that achieved fame and fortune, traveled the world, became a TV star in his own country, and achieved all his dreams! A magical inspirational real-life story like never before. Magician, Professional...

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...

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.