Today we have the Masked Magician exposing magic secrets. Eighty years ago it probably was done by writing a book without the author's name given. I do not know if this book falls in the category 'exposure'. It certainly is a book that clearly reveals a lot of interesting tricks. One is the bullet catch. It has nearly 200 excellent photographs. Card and coin manipulation is dealt with in great detail. Overall a very good book. The photographs are the outstanding part.
"The Art of Modern Conjuring" is an anonymously written work on "Drawing Room Entertainment," as the sub-title has it. In the 222 pages and 15 chapters will be found about all that the amateur will need to know about giving parlor magic shows. It is a beautifully illustrated book, there being 31 full-page photographic plates, each consisting of a group of individual photos of the tricks described in the text, making 190 engravings in all. This book is certainly the best illustrated of any that has recently come to my desk and sets an example that might well be followed by future books on magic, especially those that are particularly intended for amateurs in the art. The descriptions of the various tricks, etc., are clearly and concisely written in good, plain English language, so that anyone who can read can also understand. Chapters are devoted to the dress, pulls, servantes and apparatus. Card tricks, coin tricks, handkerchief tricks, tricks with chemicals, parlor tricks, hat tricks, mesmeric and magnetic tricks, advanced tricks, miscellaneous tricks, tricks with matches and numerals, shadowgraphy and second sight, and to make the book still more helpful to the amateur and beginner a series of three programs for a quarter of an hour's show, three for a
half hour's entertainment and one for an entire evening's performance are given. These programs are well selected and judiciously arranged. Taken in all the book is a very good one and quite unique in its make up and presentation of the tricks illustrated and explained. Martinka & Co., 493 Sixth avenue, New York City, have it for sale. I do not know the price, but should judge it to be about $1.25 or $1.50, postpaid. Whatever the price, it will be a good investment for the novice as an introduction to the art, for the collector as an addition to his library, for the amateur and semi-amateur as a hint provider, and to the professional as a pleasing reminder of his early days and first steps in his chosen vocation.
Author was perhaps a certain Ralpho. (See The Magician Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, April 20, 1909, page 53.)