Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions including Trick Photography
by Albert A. Hopkins

A massive collection of information with a huge amount of beautiful illustrations mostly compiled from the pages of Scientific American magazine. The introduction is by Henry Ridgely Evans.

During the 1890s, Scientific American magazine published detailed explanations of magic illusions. The informant for the magazine was no other than William E. Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, who at that time was the stage manager for Harry Kellar. Kellar was upset once he found out that he had a mole in his company who would feed the descriptions of some of his most popular illusions to the magazine, including the rope tie that formed the basis of his Spirit Cabinet routine that Robinson's wife, Dot, operated in the Kellar show.

• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION THE MYSTERIES OF MODERN MAGIC.
• BOOK I. CONJURERS' TRICKS AND STADE ILLUSIONS
  • CHAPTER I. MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES
    • "Vanity Fair"
    • "After The Flood"
    • "The Magic Palanquin"
    • "Cassadaga Propaganda"
    • "The Appearing Lady"
    • "The Disappearing Lady"
    • "The Mysterious Trunk"
    • "The Indian Basket Trick"
    • Decapitation
    • Spiritualistic Ties
  • CHAPTER II. OPTICAL TRICKS
    • The "Cabaret Du Neant"
    • The Three-Headed Woman
    • "Amphitrite"
    • "The Mystery Of Dr. Lynn"
    • "Black Art"
    • The Talking Head
    • The Living Half-Woman
    • "She"
    • "The Queen Of Flowers"
    • "The Decapitated Princess"
    • "Stella"
    • Houdin's Magic Cabinet
    • A Mystic Maze
    • Platinized Glass
    • Statue Giving A Double Image
  • CHAPTER III. MISCELLANEOUS STAGE TRICKS
    • The "Haunted Swing"
    • The "Scurimobile"
    • "The Neoöccultism"
    • "The Mask Of Balsamo"
    • The Invisible Woman
    • Magic Harps
  • CHAPTER IV. CONJURING TRICKS
    • Trick With An Egg And A Handkerchief
    • The Cone Of Flowers
    • The Magic Rosebush
    • "Magic Flowers"
    • The "Birth Of Flowers"
    • Tricks With A Hat
    • A Cake Baked In A Hat
    • The Egg And Hat Trick
    • Multiplication Of Coins
    • Magic Coins
    • The Dissolving Coin
    • The Spirit Slates
    • Second Sight
    • Magic Cabinets
    • The Traveling Bottle And Glass
    • Disappearance Of An Apple And A Ninepin
    • A Goblet Of Ink Converted Into An Aquarium
    • The Invisible Journey Of A Glass Of Wine
    • The Wine Changed To Water
    • The Animated Mouse
    • The Sand Frame Trick
    • Houdin's Magic Ball
  • CHAPTER V. JUGGLERS AND ACROBATIC PERFORMANCES
    • Jugglers
    • The Leamy Revolving Trapeze
    • Walking On The Ceiling Head Down
    • The Mysterious Ball
  • CHAPTER VI. FIRE EATERS AND SWORD TRICKS
    • Fire Eaters - Tricks With Fire
    • Sword Trick - A Stab Through The Abdomen
    • The Human Target
    • Sword Swallowers
    • The Sword Walker
  • CHAPTER VII. VENTRILOQUISM AND ANIMATED PUPPETS
    • Animated Puppets
  • CHAPTER VIII. SHADOWGRAPHY
    • French Shadows
  • CHAPTER IX. MENTAL MAGIC
• BOOK II. ANCIENT MAGIC
  • CHAPTER I. TEMPLE TRICKS OF THE GREEKS
    • Puppet Shows Among The Greeks
    • The Machinery Of The Temples
    • Invention In 1889 A.D. Vs. Invention B.C.
    • An Egyptian Lustral Water Vessel
  • CHAPTER II. MIRACULOUS VESSELS OF THE GREEKS
    • The Dicaiometer
    • Miraculous Vessels
    • Ancient Organs
  • CHAPTER III. THE ORIGIN OF THE STEAM ENGINE
  • CHAPTER IV. GREEK LAMPS, TOYS, ETC.
    • Perpetual Lamps
    • An Ancient Automaton
    • A Greek Toy
    • The Decapitated Drinking Horse
    • Odometers
• BOOK III. SCIENCE IN THE THEATER
  • CHAPTER I. BEHIND THE SCENES OF AN OPERA HOUSE
  • CHAPTER II. SOME REMARKABLE STAGES, ANCIENT AND MODERN
    • An Electric Curtain
    • The Fan-Drop Curtain
    • An Elevator Theater Stage
    • Some Remarkable American Stage Inventions
    • A Revolving Stage
    • The "Asphaleia" Stage
    • A Theater With Two Auditoriums
    • Curio's Pivoted Theater
    • The Olympian Theater Of Palladio At Vicenza
  • CHAPTER III. STAGE EFFECTS
    • Scene Painting
    • Sunrise Effect
    • Sun Effect
    • Change From Day To Night
    • Stars
    • Moon Effects
    • Rain Effect
    • Rainbow Effect
    • Wind Effect
    • Thunder Effect
    • Lightning
    • Snow Effect
    • Wave Effect
    • Crash Effect
    • Fire And Smoke Effects
    • Gradual Transformations
    • Battle Scenes
    • Theatrical Firearms
    • The Imitation Of Odors
  • CHAPTER IV. THEATER SECRETS
    • Traps
    • The Swan In "Lohengrin"
    • The Floating Rhine Daughters In "Rheingold"
    • The "Sun Robe"
    • The Ship On The Stage
    • Miscellaneous Stage Effects
    • The Destruction Of The Temple Of Dagon
    • The Horse Race On The Stage
    • The Effects In "Siegfried"
    • The Bed Of Tulips And The Electric Firefly
    • The Electric Torch And Electric Jewels
    • An Electrical Duel
    • The Skirt Dance
  • CHAPTER V. THE NAUTICAL ARENA
  • CHAPTER VI. A TRIP TO THE MOON
  • CHAPTER VII. CYCLORAMAS
    • The Electric Cyclorama
  • CHAPTER VIII. FIREWORKS WITH DRAMATIC ACCESSORIES
• BOOK IV. AUTOMATA AND CURIOUS TOYS
  • CHAPTER I. AUTOMATA
    • Automaton Chess Players
    • The Automaton Chess Player
    • A Curious Automaton
    • The Toy Artist
    • A Steam Man
  • CHAPTER II. CURIOUS TOYS
    • An Optical Illusion
    • The Money Maker
    • Experiments In Centrifugal Force And Gravity
    • The Magic Rose
    • Electrical Toys
    • The Electric Race Course
    • Magnetic Oracle
    • The Dancers
    • An Ancient Counterpart Of A Modern Toy
    • Novel Toys
    • Columbus's Egg
    • Jacob's Ladder
    • A Novel Toy
    • A Toy Cart
    • The Phonographic Doll
  • CHAPTER III. MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS OF AN AMUSING NATURE
    • Interesting Tricks In Elasticity
    • Novel Puzzle
    • Simple Match Trick
    • Crystallized Ornaments
    • Magical Apparition Of A Drawing On White Paper
    • Magic Portraits
    • A Trick Opera Glass
    • A Toy Bird That Flies
    • The Planchette Table
    • Japanese Magic Mirrors
    • Magic Mirrors
• BOOK V. PHOTOGRAPHIC DIVERSIONS
  • CHAPTER I. TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY
    • Lavater's Apparatus For Taking Silhouettes
    • Photography Upon A Black Ground
    • Spirit Photography
    • Artificial Mirage
    • Duplex Photography
    • Illusive Photography
    • Photographing A Human Head Upon A Table
    • Photographing A Head On A Platter
    • Photographing A Catastrophe
    • New Type Of Photographic Portrait
    • A Multiple Portrait
    • Multiphotography
    • Pinhole Camera
    • A Photographic Necktie
    • Magic Photographs
    • An Electro-Photo Detective Thief Catcher
    • Composite Photography
  • CHAPTER II. CHRONOPHOTOGRAPHY
    • An Amateur Chronophotographic Apparatus
  • CHAPTER III. THE PROJECTION OF MOVING PICTURES
    • The Edison Kinetograph
    • Reynaud's Optical Theater
    • Electric Tachyscope
    • The Demeny Chronophotographic Apparatus
    • The Kinetoscope Stereopticon
    • The "Mutograph" And "Mutoscope"
    • "Cinematograph" Camera
    • Camera For Ribbon Photography
    • The Micromotoscope
• APPENDIX. ADDITIONAL TRICKS
  • The Magic Table
  • "Gone"
  • The Spider And The Fly
  • The Trunk Trick
  • "La Strobeika Persane"
  • "Metempsychosis"
• BIBLIOGRAPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC AND PRESTIDIGITATION
  • I. English
  • II. French
  • III. German
  • IV. Spanish
  • V. Italian
  • VI. Latin

1st edition 1897, 556 pages; reprinted several times 1901, 1906; PDF 487 pages.
word count: 159667 which is equivalent to 638 standard pages of text