We realized that from the "17" in your "handle".

I was 17 once! (7- years ago!) PM if you wish. POSSIBLY, I can make a few suggestions.

That should be 70 years ago!

Clay, you wrote:” The woofle dust concept for magicians existed, and was used in their patter, in the early 18th century (so nearly 300 years ago).”
Would you provide a reference/url for a source for this information? Otherwise it is just an opinion and not evidence based.

I recall that Close-up magician Don Alan used the term Woofle Dust in many effects. Bob

I am thinking that the term has been commonly used for a very long time. Most of us has spoke those words at least once.

Buy the way, I get mine for free and for a lifetime supply...

Should I be performing at a Bar Mitzvah I call it "Magic Mitzvah Dust," available at any Kosher magic shop. Also I mention you can buy it at non-Jewish magic shops but they have a different name for it. They call it "Holy Good Deed Powder."

Well, maybe you had to be there. Ethnic humor is kind of dead I guess.

Like all the fun comments! Still looking for actual written sources. The hunt continues.

Try asking him directly about his finding.

Good luck on the search, it will be interesting to see

I have seen it mentioned in a book from the 1600’s. The only problem is - I can’t remember what book that was. But I do know is available on PDF because I red it in my computer. So at least 2 more clues available...

Ah, yess...who can forget Foudini the Rabbit that cane to America thinking the streets were made of gold and the Wonderful Woffle Dust of Wang that helped him to get there?

https://www.martinsmagic.com/allmagic/cl......s-wayne/

The idea of using magic powder to distract attention from a sleight or move has been around for centuries. It was first described c. 1584 by Prevost used to ditch the thread in the Gypsy Thread effect. The term Woofle Dust first appears in Lesson 2 of the original Tarbell Course c. 1927 and it has been used ever since.

Appreciate that info Frank!

As a check, I did searches on askalexander.org in the various spellings (Woofle, wuffle, whoofle), and the earliest mention that came up was Tarbell course as cited. So seems that is the earliest PUBLISHED use of the term. Interestingly, that wasn't the only popular term used for magic dust. For example, in the 1940s magic periodicals "goofer dust" gave "woofle dust" a real challenge.

The "Provost on Toulouse" book was published the same year as Reginald Scott's The Discoverie of Witchcraft so it doesn't get any older than that in published trick history (there were hand written books, scrolls and parchments before that but those were not widely distributed). So the concept is as old as modern published magic.

When I began my magic “career” I was age 13.
It was circa 1970 and the main truck in my shows at kids’ parties was Foudini. Bought from Tannen’s, it was a variation on the sucker dye box.
It was made out of metal rectangular in shape with two door flaps at either end it was designed to represent a jail cell.
Foudini, the entrepreneurial white rabbit from China came to America to make his fortune after learning that the e streets of America were paved with gold.
This was the first phase of the story I told —a story that was included in Tannen’s script

By now you might be asking… Why do I even mention this trick on this thread about Woofle dust?

Simply because it was in this script that, in order to make the magic happen, I was instructed, as the magician, to “…sprinkle the invisible wonderful woffle dust of wang!” :0

And as you might guess.. it worked like a charm!