Biographies & History in Magic & Conjuring: page 2

• HENRY SLADE Was he a medium or a magician?
• CAGLIOSTRO The Mystery Man of Europe
• KATTERFELTO Lecturer, conjurer, and quack
• SERVAIS LE ROY He levitated a pianist and her piano
• C. W. STARR His vanishing act was for sheriffs
• TORRINI His greatest illusion was himself
• SIGNOR BLITZ What he pulled from a hat one night kept a family together
• CHARLES MORRITT His masterpiece was the Disappearing Donkey
• THE BOTTLE CONJURER How was he going to jump into a bottle?
• MAELZEL There was more to his Chess-playing Automaton than met the eye
• ROBERT HELLER His mindreading act mystified audiences
• THE BANGS...

• CARDINI He seemed bewildered by his own magic
• BLACKSTONE "The Last of the Great Magicians"
• LEON MANDRAKE He wore a turban or a top hat - depending on the gig
• DUNNINGER Was it true that the renowned mindreader couldn't read the mind of a gnat?
• DAVENPORT BROTHERS Their spirit cabinet brought them fame. But were they mediums or magicians?
• PROFESSOR NEUMAN He had misread a mind - and the police hauled him away
• THE GREAT LESTER Did he have the exclusive rights to that name?
• GEORGES MÉLIÈS A magician who transformed himself into a filmmaker
• CHARLIER No one knew where he came from - or where he finally went ...

A candid intimate interview with the Italian Teddy Bear. With wit, honesty, and lots of inside details, Aldo shares with his fans his life as a comedy magician and lecturer; his view on magic, tells about his career, the move to the USA, his hobbies, and how he was able to survive until 60 just with a deck of cards and a piece of rope! He also teaches an easy Italian recipe for a great pasta dish, and he may even play the guitar and sing a song if pressed by Rachel (and helped by a glass of wine). Of course, he will also show and explain a trick never before released.

Aldo and Rachel have...

This article succinctly critiques the Milton Franklin Andrews case, and introduces us to two at the time new suspects, James DeWitt Andrews and Edwin Sumner Andrews.

This article first appeared in the 1999 December issue of Magic Magazine, except for this release Richard Hatch added two pages introductory notes to better frame his article in the historical context of the hunt for Erdnase. The article is also essentially the talk Richard gave at the 1999 Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.

1st edition 1999 (intro 2021), PDF 16 pages.

The authorized book of Rovi's life, philosophy, and magic. The first part deals with Rovi's life from birth, through military service and marriage all the way to his success in magic. A fascinating story with over 50 tricks including the much-requested "Cowboy Trick." Wonderful effects for a variety of skills. Many sleights are thoroughly explained and discussed, including Rovi's fabulous forces, pass, side slip, peek and top change. Many of these ideas appeared in print in this book for the first time.

Wonderful illustrations by Tony Dunn; produced and partly edited by Anthony Brahams.

1st edition 2000, The...

Martin Breese interviewed Robert Harbin on March 26th, 1977, not even one year before Harbin's untimely death. The interview took place at Harbin's home in London, England.

Spend 90 minutes listening to Robert Harbin - one of the world's most creative illusionists and inventors. Here is the full life story of the man who invented Zig Zag and a number of other illusions that will be performed by magicians over the years to come. Since making the recording Robert Harbin became ill and died. The words spoken on this tape were used as the basis for The Robert Harbin Book published by Martin Breese....

This is a digital facsimile version of the original hardcover book. [The one hardcover I had left has sold. Sorry.]

Back in the 1970s Martin Breese had the chance to record Robert Harbin on one of his early Magicassette releases. The Harbin Magicassette probably rates as the most popular of his recordings.

In 1983 Martin asked the late Owen Griffith to transcribe the words from the Harbin Magicassette. The late and great Eric Mason created the illustrations for The Harbin Book. One day at a business trade fair Martin saw a full scale photo litho printing machine being demonstrated and decided to leap in to the deep end and he bought the demonstration machine and had...

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 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...

The fascinating true story of the Lancashire mill girl, Mrs Edward Howarth who became a music hall artiste as Josephine Langley, an accomplished ventriloquist. She was particularly popular during the First World War with her patriotic 'Soldier Act'. The family emigrated to America but returned to England after many adventures during the Prohibition era.

1st edition 2008, 1st digital edition 2013, 34 pages.

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...

An exploration of the origins and early development of the "perfect little pocket trick" known as "Chink-a-Chink", the non-coin prototype of the Matrix effect; with how-to and performance tips, and advice on custom-made sets and "impromptu" sets as well (with photographs).

Three types are covered:

1. mechanical chinck-a-chinks utilizing a shell
2. chink-a-chinks with only the hands utilizing a spare object
3. four objects and two covers

1st edition 2012, 38 pages.

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...

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 ...

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:

Solyl Kundu invited the then IBM International President Phil Willmarth to visit Kolkata in 2007 for a magic Get-Together, and he encouraged local IBM members to join. It was a big success. For this occasion a souvenir booklet was published. This is a PDF version of this souvenir booklet. It includes:

• A Greeting from the President
• Phil Willmarth laudatio
• Chronicle of IBM Ring #83
• Cornered by Aldo Colombini
• Bang Gun - Balloon Antics by David J. O'Connor
• Anti-Gravity Bottle by Gora Dutta
• Centrifugal ESP by Max Maven
• Elementary, My Dear Watson by Peter Marucci
• Balls Across - Persistence of Vision by Paul Hyland ...

A lucid commentary on the first printed English conjuring text; showing the development of magic tricks from 1584 up to the present day. Written by a magician for magic historians and magicians interested in the beginnings of their art. Including many unpublished references to Reginald Scot with quotations and illustrations from most of the early English books with conjuring from 1584 up to 1784.

The text will show Scot's influence on his contemporaries along with witchcraft beliefs before and after the Discovery of Witchcraft was published. With definitions of old English words in the text, a bibliography of...

This is a wonderful opportunity to experience the life and times of one of the UK's major performance artistes, whose illustrious career started in the 1960's and spanned over 40 years. Not only does this ebook provide a carefully researched and fascinating look at Johnny himself, it also shines a light on the general showbiz scene of the same period, as Johnny rubbed shoulders with many of the greats from the entertainment and TV world.

The ebook runs to over 200 pages and is profusely illustrated with playbills and photographs that really help to conjure up a clear vision of showbiz in...

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

Excerpt from the introduction:

Charles Oswald Williams was a good friend of Professor Hoffmann, Chung Ling Soo and many other notable magicians. He was also a magic dealer and inventor, amongst his customers was a young Cardini. Williams also had the honour of being one of the first magicians to perform in The Magic Circle's inaugural show.

Charles Oswald Williams was at the inception of the Golden Age of Magic and his life story followed the development of Magic as we now know it. This ebook chronicles his life story in parallel to the rise of Magic. In addition, it contains a full account of The Magic Circle's first show in London in 1906, describing...

Cumberland was a muscle reader who did not claim to possess any psychic abilities. In this work he recounts many such 'thought-reading' encounters with notable people.

From the introduction:

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...

This ebook presents an analytical review of works on card cheating that are written in English and published before 1900. Given this scope, The Reference Guide to Early Works on Card Cheating takes 151 publications, and documents the card cheating techniques that they describe. Only card techniques discussed in the context of cheating at card games are considered. The 146 defined techniques are used to evaluate the publications based on their breadth and their contribution to the literature. The breadth is indicated by the absolute number of techniques each work describes, and the contribution...

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: