pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 21
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 21 | INTRODUCTION fully as reliable a book as the earlier "Hocus Pocus" books, but it is not so generally known. Richard Neve, who was a popular English conjurer just before the time of Fawkes, published a book on somewhat similar lines in I715. Germany contributed the next notable works on magic. First came Johann Samuel Halle's "Magic or the Magical Power of Nature," printed in Berlin, in 1784. One of his compatriots, Johann Christian Wiegleb, wrote eighteen books on "The Natural Magic" and while I shall always contend that the German books are the most complete, yet they cannot be accepted as authorities save that, in describing early tricks, they prove the existence of inventions and working methods claimed later as original by men like Robert-Houdin. English books on magic were not accepted seriously until the early part of the ninetcenth century. In Vol. III. of John Beckmann's "History of Inventions and and Discoveries," published in 1797, will be found a chapter on "Jugglers" which presents interesting matter regarding magicians and mysterious entertainers. I quote from this book in disproving Robert-Houdin's claims to the invention of automata and second-sight. About 1840, J. H. Anderson, a popular magician, brought out a series of inexpensive, paper-bound vol- umes, entitled "A Shilling's Worth of Magic," "Parlor Magic," etc., which are valuable only as giving a glimpse of the tricks contemporary with his personal successes. In 1859 came Robert-Houdin's "Memoirs," magic's classic. Signor Blitz, in 1872, published his reminis- cences, "Fifty Years in the Magic Circle," but here [14 ] |