Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
London and New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1878. Third edition. Hardcover. Thick octavo in forest green gloth ornately lettered and decorated in gilt and black. xv+ 511 pp. Illustrated with 318 engravings in the text. The Third Edition, so stated on the title page. A fine, tight, bright example. A touchstone book in its field, Hoffman's "Modern Magic" was originally a 48-part series on Routledge's periodical "Every Boys' Paper" and first issued in book form in 1876. It describes in detail much of the art of conjuring, from performing magician's costumes and apparatuses to principles and instructions on slight of hand and non-slight of hand card tricks, prepared decks, coin tricks with and without apparatus, tricks with watches, rings, handkerchiefs, dominoes, dice, cups, balls, hat tricks and numerous miscellaneous tricks. A lovely copy indeed of a highly desirable book. "Professor Hoffman" (real name Angelo John Lewis, b. 1839 in London) was considered one of the leading authorities of his time on performance magic and conjuring, though he himself had only limited experience as a professional magician. He noted in the first chapter "... there is a vast difference between telling how a trick is done and teaching bhow to do it..." Fine. Item #E19093B
Price: $475.00