There are not many short biography compilations in magic and this one by Goldston is still one that is being consulted frequently. The most extensive one is by Bart Whaley (Who's Who in Magic) but while Whaley covers many more magicians he does not include portraits. Goldston includes many portraits of magicians and his biographical sketches can sometimes be much more extensive than in other such compilations. Goldston groups magicians as professionals, semi-professionals, and amateurs. He covers 90 professional magicians, 50 semi-professional magicians, and 69 amateurs.
1st edition 1934, 114 pages; PDF 81 pages.
word count: 27270 which is equivalent to 109 standard pages of text