Exploring the History of Magic

This volume is regarded as one of the finest early chronicles of magic.

From the Preface:

This book concludes my series on the captivating world of entertainment, which began with Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. Most of it was drafted prior to The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs, although the latter was published first. In this work, I delve into the lives of conjurors from various eras and regions, while the accounts of shows and showmen focus primarily on London and its surrounding areas, extending approximately twenty miles. The scope of circuses is limited to the UK, with a brief look across the Atlantic. These choices are influenced by the nature of the topics at hand, which I feel compelled to address.

• PREFACE

• CHAPTER I: Origins of the Black Art – The First Conjurors – Pagan Deities and Their Apparitions – Ancient Religious Mysteries – The Production of Phantasms – Ancient Magic Mirrors – The Decline of Mysteries.

• CHAPTER II: Secular Magic Practices in Antiquity – Zoroaster and the Magi – Tales of Greek Magicians – Soul Separation – Simon Magus – The Ancient Fire-King – Animated Statues – Transformation Tricks – Elymas the Sorcerer – Apollonius of Tyana – The Oracle of Abonotica.

• CHAPTER III: Merlin the Enchanter – The Veiled Prophet of Khorasan – Optical Illusions by Santabaren – The Brazen Head of Silvester II. – Lightning by Gregory VII. – The Brazen Head of Bishop Greathead – Michael Scot – Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay – The Brazen Head’s Tale – Competition with Vandermast, the German Conjuror – Bacon’s Persecution by the Pope – Albert Groot – Raymond Lully – Zeito, the Bohemian Conjuror.

• CHAPTER IV: Cornelius Agrippa – Phantoms in His Magic Mirror – Faust – Legends Surrounding Him – The Decapitation Trick in Frankfort – The Enchanted Palace and Fairy Garden – Sabellicus – Roman Magic – Sicilian Priest Conjurations – Devils in the Coliseum.

• CHAPTER V: The Persecution of Conjurors – John Dee – Visions in the Magic Mirror – Corpse Invocation – Mob Attack on Dee’s Home – Brandon the Juggler – Jannes and Jambres – Sixteenth-Century Conjuring Tricks – The Decapitation Trick – Jean Cantares – A Samoied Conjuror – Indian Conjurors at Jehangire’s Court – Dr. Lamb – The Magic Tree – The Magic Lantern’s Invention – Seventeenth-Century English Conjurors.

• CHAPTER VI: A New Era in Conjuring – Neve and His Book – The Tale of an Indian Fakeer – Fawkes and Pinchbeck – The Younger Yeates – Comus’s Recreations – A Conjuror’s Challenge – The Pigeon Trick – Lesser Known Performers – Boaz – Cosmopolita – Ray – George III. and the Conjuror – Social Standing of Conjurors in the Last Century.

• CHAPTER VII: Conjuring Shows in the Last Century – Breslaw – The Conjuror and the Mayor – Breslaw’s “Last Legacy” – Flockton – Conjurors at Fairs – Lane – Robinson – Katterfelto – His Black Cat and Its Vanishing Tail – Pinetti and His Book – Clairvoyance Ninety Years Ago – The Royal Circus Conjuror – Decremps – Astiey as a Conjuror – The Gun Trick’s Invention – The Automaton Chess-Player.

• CHAPTER VIII: Pinetti’s Successors – Henry – Connus – The Vanishing Lady – Melville – Cagliostro – Rollin – A Conjuror on the Scaffold – Comus the Second – Coinage of Unique Terms – Another Clairvoyant Conjuror – Advancements in the Magic Lantern – Robert’s Optical Illusions – Raising the Dead – Philipstai’s Phantasmagoria – Moritz – Bologna – Moon – Elliston and the Conjuror – A Conjuror’s Lawsuit.

• CHAPTER IX: Moritz’s Successors – Val – Ingleby – Decapitation and Reanimation of a Fowl – Boiling a Fowl and Restoring It to Life – The Count de Grisy – The Conjuror and the Cardinal – A Page Sawn in Halves – A Fatal Error – Cucchiani – The Speaking Head – The Invisible Girl – Gyngell the Showman – The Gun Trick Revisited – A Tragic Incident with an Indian Juggler – De Linsky – A Grievous Catastrophe.

• CHAPTER X: A New Series of Conjurors – Chalon – Transforming a Bird into a Young Lady – Comillot – Comte the Ventriloquist – Louis XVIII. and the Conjuror – Girardelli – A Novel Nomenclature – The Two Blitzes – Sullivan – Ball – Hoare – Ingleby Lunar – Conjurors at Fairs – Keyes and Laine – Frazer – Capelli – De Berar’s Phantasmagoria – Indian Conjurors – Air Suspension – The Basket Trick – The Enchanted Water Jar – Magical Transformations.

• CHAPTER XI: A New Era in Conjuring Entertainment – Jacobs the Ventriloquist and Improvisatore – The Chinese Ring Trick – An Incident at a Tripe Supper – Ink Turned into Water with Goldfish – The Inexhaustible Bottle – The Vanishing Page – Ether Suspension – Jacobs’ Imitators – Ching Lau Lauro – Testot – Sutton – The Speaking Automaton – A Young Lady Found in a Pie – Law – Buck – Miller.

• CHAPTER XII: John Henry Anderson – His Early Adventures – A Conjuror’s Struggles Among the Ignorant – The Wizard’s Umbrella – Anderson’s Troubles – A Failed Glasgow Speculation – Theatre Fire – An Incident in St. Petersburg – Second Sight – An Imperial Wizard – A Conjuror’s Tricks – Spirit-Rappers Exposed – The Covent Garden Mask Ball – Another Fire Incident.

• CHAPTER XIII: Anderson’s Imitators – Wizards from Various Regions – Young – De Saurin – Cunningham – Doward – Pennington – Foreign Conjurors in England – Mooty Moodaya – Oriental Conjuring – Louis Döbler – Instantaneous Illumination of Two Hundred Candles – The Transfixed Card – The Magician’s Kitchen – Philippe Talon – The Gold-Fish Trick – Hermann.

• CHAPTER XIV: Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin – Amateur Conjurors and Continental Mountebanks – Carlosbach – Castelli – Robert’s Connection to Torrini – The Pancake Trick – Exhibition of the Automaton Penman – Second Sight – Engagement in Brussels – An Unrehearsed Trick on the Frontier – A Card Trick at St Cloud – A Royal Duchess Confounded – Ether Suspension – London Engagement – Transformation of the Queen’s Glove – The Conjuror Among Arabs – The Gun Trick – Drawing Blood from a Stone.

• CHAPTER XV: Optical Illusions – Robin’s Ghosts and Phantom Fight – Automaton Calculator – Wiljalba Frikell – Travels Across Three Quarters of the Globe – Conjuring Without Apparatus – Orginski Rosenfeld – De Linski – Chinese Conjurors – Bosco – A Multilingual Conjuror – The Vanishing Card – Malcolm – Behind the Scenes with a Wizard – Inglis – Hambujer.

• CHAPTER XVI: Wellington Young – Professor Logrenia – Table-Rappers and Clairvoyants – Louisa Miller – Professor Sinclair – The Blooming Orange Tree – Optical Illusions at the Polytechnic – Silvester’s Ghost – Music-Hall Ghosts – Revival of Medieval Magic – The Skeleton in the Cabinet – The Vanishing Man and the Speaking Head – Alfred Stodare – The Sphinx – The Mysterious Hand – The Shade of Socrates – Another Automaton Chess-Player.

• CHAPTER XVII: Signor Rubini – The Indian Basket Trick – Beheading a Lady – The Fakeer of Oolu – A Lady Floating in Air – Professor Beaumont – Spiritualist Activities – Miss Katie King – Her Confession of Deception – Mr. Maskelyne – His Exposure of the Davenport Brothers – Anti-Spiritualistic Séances at the Egyptian Hall – The Automaton Whist-Player – Dr. Lynn – The Corded Box Trick – Palingenesia – Professor De Vere.