Biographies & History in Magic & Conjuring: page 4

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....

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 specially-recorded hour-long interview of Don Driver (interviewer is the late David Alexander) that gives history, insights, and advice on how to make money selling the most popular trick deck in the world. Don also tells many stories and anecdotes of how he got into magic, side shows and ultimately pitching Svengali decks.

duration 1h 5min

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...

A heart-to-heart interview with Rachel Colombini conducted by Cameron Francis. Her beginnings in England, the move to the USA, how she and Aldo met, her difficult moment with open heart surgery, the recovery and more. She then shares a trick never before released and, why not, sing a song!

• Preface - Paul Gordon
• About the Author by Martin Breese
• Introduction - Paul Gordon
• Edward George Brown - a biography by Paul Gordon
• Obituary by Francis White
• Heartfelt Tributes
• - John Carney
• - Roger Crosthwaite
• - Members of The Magic Circle
• Trevor H. Hall & The Card Magic of Edward G. Brown
• Willane's Methods for Miracles
• Ibidem - P. Howard Lyons
• The 'Lost' Magic of E.G. Brown
• - Divination of Two Mentally Selected Cards
• - The Three Billet Test
• - A Cigarette Change
• - The Penetrating Tumbler
• - Handkerchief and Glass to Hat
• - A Nap Hand
• With Thanks to Edward George Brown
• - The Brown Detective - Peter Duffie
• - Thin...

A Journey Through a History of Magic traces the lives and times of famous magicians throughout history through to many popular present day performers. With pictures and photos that introduce you to many almost forgotten performers who have gained fame.

Featuring a few of the performers who have shaped the art and craft of magic through the ages.

• The History of Magic
• The Conjuror Painting
• Dedi the Magician
• Matthias Buchinger
• Hieronymous Scotto
• John Nevil Maskelyne
• Joseph Pinetti
• Louis Hasselmayer
• Robert Houdin
• John Henry Anderson
• Chung Ling Soo
• Charles Dickens
• Fox Sisters
• Annie Abbott
• Great Lafayette ...

A fascinating casebook of true stories from the self-styled "Card Detective" that reveals the inner workings of backroom poker cheats, dice scams, bunco artists, horse race swindles, rigged games of the carnival and midway and much, much more.

Written in a breezy style, "Mickey" MacDougall takes the reader along for an entertaining and informative ride as he consults with casino bosses and card room owners to stamp out cheaters and grifters.

Swindlers take many forms and purvey their trade anywhere people gather: aboard trains and cruise ships, at the racetrack, in back alleys, military...

Biography of Captain Gilbert S. Aleman's, a.k.a. Al Mann, early part of his life.

You may know Al Mann only as magician and mentalist. He was also a master mariner, a captain in the merchant marines, who spent years on the sea. This is an autobiographical account of his life before he became a mentalist. There is some mention of gambling, John Scarne, and how Al Mann got into magic, which may be of particular interest to magicians.

• Chapter I First Impressions
• Chapter II Rumors of War
• Chapter III The School
• Chapter IV Of Pins and Heroes
• Chapter V Through the Golden Gate
• Chapter VI Passage To...

Henry Ridgely Evans provides an account of the history of conjuring, from ancient Egypt through the Middle Ages and into the 20th century. He develops biographical portraits of many well-known magicians and includes descriptions of their acts. Perhaps the most unusual feature of the work is that at the very end he includes photos of the hands of many famous magicians.

From the Proem:

From the Foreword:

This is a very good book on Cagliostro, because Trowbridge does not simply parrot the opinion of other authors who wrote about Cagliostro, but he did his own research and came to his own conclusions. One can certainly argue about some of Trowbridge's conclusions, but overall this is a very thorough and detailed description and analysis of Cagliostro's life.

• Preface
• Bibliography
• Part I
  • Chapter I: The Power Of Prejudice
  • Chapter II: Giuseppe Balsamo
• Part II
  • Chapter I: Cagliostro In London
  • Chapter II: Eighteenth Century Occultism
  • Chapter III: Masked And Unmasked
  • Chapter IV: The...

Includes chapters on conjuring, fortune-telling and card-sharping.

• Preface
• Part The First. The History Of Cards
  • I. Introduction
  • II. Oriental Origin Of Cards
  • III. Introduction Of Cards Into Southern Europe
  • IV. Date Of Introduction Of Cards
  • V. Introduction Of Cards Into France
  • VI. The Cards Of Charles VI
  • VII. Invention Of The French Cards And Game Of Piquet
  • VIII. Cards In England
  • IX. History Of Tarots, As Told By Themselves
  • X. Modern History Of French And English Cards
  • XI. The Application Of Cards To Science
  • XII. Card Miscellanies
• Part The Second. Card Playing And Card Players...

A collection of basic information about circuses small and big, their names and when they were in operation.

• War Time Circus
• Shows Harry Bowman was connected with
• Famous Firsts in Circus History
• Circus Wrecks and Accidents
• Circuses and Tent Shows (in alphabetical order)

1st edition 1942, 31 pages; PDF 75 pages.

This work explores the history, meaning, and uses of playing cards.

From the foreword:

Showing at a glance the tricks performed by all the leading conjurors, extending over a period of forty-two years, from 1864 to 1906.

• Robert Heller
• Warren Wright
• Prof. Duval
• Signor Bosco
• Prof. Fuller
• Mons. Kellar
• Verbeck
• Prof. and Maude Anderson
• Prof. Anderson
• Herr Frikell
• Dr. Holden
• Prof. Hoffmann
• Bautier de Kolta
• Prof. Devono
• Herr Döbler
• Hartz
• Prof. Duprez
• Dr. Lynn
• Servais Le Roy
• Hercat
• J. N. Maskelyne
• Harry Kellar
• Imro Fox
• Prof. Hulbert
• David Devant
• Prof. Weber
• Prof. Geo. Davison
• Charles Bertram
• Dr. Nix
• Prof. St. Clair
• Chevalier Thorn
• Fred Harcourt
• Charles Karnak
• De Biere the Mysterious
• Paul Valadon
• Charles Morritt
• Melot Herman
• Carl Hertz
• Martin...

The renowned sideshow showman Ward Hall reminisced about the time Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Circus attracted a record-breaking crowd of over 20,000 people inside the sideshow. "The Greatest Show on Earth" was playing Montreal during the 1950s. However, over a decade later, Giovanni Iuliani surpassed this world-breaking record many times over.

200,000 ATTENDANCE RECORD!

In 1966, Giovanni Iuliani presented 5 major freak phenomena alive on a high elevated stage at two Montreal movie houses. These high attendance halls each featured on their giant screen the classic horror...

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...