Clay, no problem.
Actually, I made a mistake. The correct title is "The Master Magicians: Their Lives and Most Famous Tricks", and it was by Walter Gibson...my memory failed me on that one. The copy I have is a first printing from 1966, Doubleday...most likely something done for the general public.

I got mine from Tony Andruzzi's library after Tony died (all legal and above board, I assure you).

The magicians listed are:
Robert-Houdin
Professor Anderson
Herrmann the Great
Kellar
Chung Ling Soo
Thurston
Houdini and Hardeen
The Great Raymond

Hope that helps.

Rick

I also forgot to mention this. I've lived in Nashville for going on 14 years. I started in magic around 1993. For a few quick visits during that time, I got the chance to meet and speak with David Price, probably one of the foremost experts on magic history.
Great man, miss him a lot.

Rick

Thanks for the information, Rick. The Gibson book is a title I recognize, and I think it was intended for the general public.

I didn't know David Price extremely well, but we met at his home for several hours one afternoon in 1979, and thereafter corresponded and talked on the phone every once in a while. He was always nice to me, and was indeed very knowledgeable.

Charles" Reynolds" poster book. "Famous Magicians of the World"-Arnold Frost. "Panarama of Magic". When I was a kid,I read these books to pieces.Would somebody please reprint them?

What I find vey useful in "Illustrated History of Magic" is that it provides us with facsimiles of old magicians' programs. It's interesting to see how the old masters mixed magic and mentalism, both of which seem incompatible today. I paid particular attention to the way in which the old masters selected effects, routined, and advertised their craft.

federico

Three of my favourite Magic History books:

Gibson, Walter: Secrets of Magic
A good general overview of many famous effects.

Randi, James: Conjuring
An excellent who's who of magic and a great starting place, especially when more knowledgeable magicians say names matter-of-factly. I check conjuring and then it is "Quick to the internet..." smiles.

Seligmann, Kurt: The Mirror of Magic
An excellent introductory text that presents the history of magic. Superb info to get started on any research. It could be subtitled, "A thousand and one bizarre routines, if you dare!"

just my opinions...

Cheers - El Lamo

My personal favorites are:
"Illustrated History Of Magic" By Milbourne Chrisopher
"Jarrett" by Jim Steinmeyer
"Hiding The Elephant" by Jim Steinmeyer

A lot of fine books have been mentioned here, but as long as we've gotten to single-subject biographies, a fascinating book is He Fooled Houdini: Dai Vernon A Magical Life.

The book shows the influences on a magical legend and it's filled with great stories. It ties Vernon to earlier magical performers, like Kellar, Thurston, Doc Elliott, and Houdini himself. Regarding magic and its practitioners, the Professor always speaks his mind.

In a way, it reminds me of Vasari's Lives of the Artists, a kind of modern 'this is how Da Vinci started,' for the art of magic.

My fave books are The Illustrated History of magic and magic a picture history

The history of african american magicians in america.it's a good read kids,arsenio hall started out as a magician & the book has a pretty goofy picture of his promo pic.

Greetings and Salutations,

This thread would provide an excellent wish list for the magi looking to round out his library!

I may have missed it, I'm in search of something so just buzzed through, but if it has not been suggested, I would nominate "Street Magic" by Claflin and Sheridan. It is an excellent history on street magi.

Joe in KC

magicswan, can you tell me the name of the author and/or the publisher? I want to keep an eye out for that one.

My current favs are 1. Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer, and 2. The Phantoms of the Card Table by David Britland and Gazzo.

Will

I am enamored and delighted by the plethora of magical history books that have been recently offered to the magic community. And of note are the Magic Pro-Files by Michael Caveney. Some are better than others since they are not authored by the same person. I particularly enjoyed the ones on Servais LeRoy, Carter, and most recently Alexander. Some are interesting from a historical standpoint because of their contribution(s) while others are interesting because of their character. I must also concur that the Steinmeyer book "Hiding the Elephant" is a modern day classic and a must have. It is a wonderful read.

But my favorite magic history book which I keep going back to (though not part of the "Pro-Files") is "John Calvert, Magic and Adventures" by William Rauscher. This book is gold. Every chapter reads like a separate book. John's life has been rich and diverse. It's unbelievable that one person could have done so many things...and done them well! I marvel at the man and after my initial reading I gained so much more respect for him beyond just him as a performer. I'm surprised that a screenwriter hasn't yet made this into a movie. It certainly reads like one. What a guy! A must read.

yours,
Scott

I seem to recall that a few years ago some published a collection of the Encyclopedia Britannica's entries on "Conjuring" from several past editions. Sounds like it would be filled with fascinating history.

Oops - "someone" , not "some".

The publisher of that book (called "Legerdemain") was David Meyer, who also published what is, in my opinion, the hands-down, all-out, best-of-all, must-read, greatest magic history book of all time, "Illusion Show" by David Bamberg (Fu Manchu). "Legerdemain" is out of print. Thankfully, "Illusion Show" is not.

To WRandall:

MagicSwan is referring to Jim Haskins' and Kathleen Benson's "Conjure Times Black Magicians in America" (New York, Walker & Company, 2001). 174 pp., notes, bibliography, index.

But the "original" (and acknowledged thus Haskins and Benson) is Jim Magus' "Magical Heroes The Lives and Legends of Great African American Magicians" (Marietta, GA, Magus Enterprises, 1995). 229 pp.

Hope this helps,

Clay

P.S. What up, Gabe?

Hi Clay,

Not much! My new Laurant biography comes out next week, which I'm rather excited about. See you in Vegas?

Gabe

Gabe, not sure I'll be there, but AM sure I want a copy of your new biography. How will it be distributed/sold? Hope it meets with success! Clay

I just returned from the public library where I looked up "Conjuring" in the Encyclopedia Britannica - both the 15th edition (2005) and the 14th edition (1971). What a difference! The newer edition is only two columns long (that's two thirds of a page) and has no illustrations. Only two sentences are devoted to close-up magic and only Dai Vernon is mentioned. The entry was contributed by Ricky Jay (I think). The older edition has an article that is more than five pages in length (truly in-depth with small type covering large pages) with illustrations and is a joy to read. It was contributed by John Mullholland. While in the reference section I also grabbed volume M of the World Book Encyclopedia and looked up Magic. It's a good article for somewhat younger readers by Phill Willmarth. I also looked up "magic, stage" in the Encyclopedia Americana which has a good introductory entry by Walter Gibson.