The Online Magic Store Blog: Magic History
What are Zener cards? The history of the ESP deck
The story of Zener cards, the five-symbol ESP deck made at Duke University in the 1930s, and why mentalists still use it today.
What are Zener cards? The history of the ESP deck
The history of the multiplying billiard balls
Where the multiplying billiard balls come from, from de Kolta’s billiard-ball trick in Hoffmann’s More Magic (1890) to August Roterberg’s f…
The history of the multiplying billiard balls
The history of the egg bag
The egg bag from Isaac Fawkes at Bartholomew Fair in the 1700s to Hoffmann’s Modern Magic (1876) and the routines magicians perform today.
The history of the egg bag
The history of the ball and vase
Where the ball and vase comes from, from Hoffmann’s Modern Magic (1876) to the wooden and plastic vases of the 20th century.
The history of the ball and vase
Who was Horace Goldin?
The life of Horace Goldin, “The Whirlwind Illusionist”, who presented his own sawing-through-a-woman illusion in 1921 and patented it in 19…
Who was Horace Goldin?
Who was P. T. Selbit?
The life of P. T. Selbit, the London magician who presented sawing through a woman at the Finsbury Park Empire in 1921.
Who was P. T. Selbit?
Who was Ted Annemann?
The life of Ted Annemann, the American mentalist who founded The Jinx in 1934 and wrote 202 Methods of Forcing.
Who was Ted Annemann?
Who was Okito?
The life of Okito, Theo Bamberg of the Dutch Bamberg magic family, Thurston’s hand-shadow artist and the name behind the Okito box.
Who was Okito?
Who was Servais Le Roy?
The life of Servais Le Roy, the Belgian illusion designer behind the act Le Roy, Talma and Bosco and the Asrah levitation.
Who was Servais Le Roy?
Who was David Devant?
The life of David Devant, the English stage magician who partnered John Nevil Maskelyne, showed some of Britain’s first films and was the f…
Who was David Devant?
Who was Bartolomeo Bosco?
The life of Bartolomeo Bosco, the Italian conjuror from Turin who survived Napoleon’s Russian campaign and became famous across Europe for …
Who was Bartolomeo Bosco?
Who was Isaac Fawkes?
The story of Isaac Fawkes, the 18th-century London fairground conjuror known for the egg bag and his shows with clockmaker Christopher Pinc…
Who was Isaac Fawkes?
Who was John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North?
The life of John Henry Anderson, the Scottish showman billed as the Great Wizard of the North, from Aberdeenshire to theatres around the wo…
Who was John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North?
How to do the pencil and buttonhole trick
Make the pencil and buttonhole puzzle with a pencil and string, then learn how to lock it onto a buttonhole and take it off again.
How to do the pencil and buttonhole trick
Who was Adelaide Herrmann? The Queen of Magic
The life of Adelaide Herrmann, who assisted Alexander Herrmann for two decades, then led her own show as the Queen of Magic.
Who was Adelaide Herrmann? The Queen of Magic
How to do the rising card trick
Learn the impromptu rising card trick with any deck, from Professor Hoffmann’s classic hand version to presentation tips, history and commo…
How to do the rising card trick
What is the Miser’s Dream? The history of catching coins from the air
The Miser’s Dream is the classic routine of catching coins from the air into a hat or bucket, made famous by T. Nelson Downs, the King of K…
What is the Miser’s Dream? The history of catching coins from the air
Who was John Nevil Maskelyne?
The Cheltenham watchmaker who exposed the Davenport Brothers, ran the Egyptian Hall for 31 years, wrote Sharps and Flats and started a magi…
Who was John Nevil Maskelyne?
The Indian rope trick: the famous trick that was never performed
How a hoax newspaper story from 1890 turned the Indian rope trick into a world-famous trick that nobody ever performed.
The Indian rope trick: the famous trick that was never performed
Who was Chung Ling Soo? The magician behind the mask
The life of William Ellsworth Robinson, the American who performed as Chung Ling Soo, his rivalry with Ching Ling Foo and his death during …
Who was Chung Ling Soo? The magician behind the mask
Who was Harry Houdini? From King of Cards to escape legend
Harry Houdini went from card magician to world-famous escape artist, then spent his last years exposing fake mediums.
Who was Harry Houdini? From King of Cards to escape legend
Who was Dai Vernon? The Professor who fooled Houdini
Dai Vernon, known as The Professor, fooled Houdini with a card trick and shaped modern close-up magic from his base at the Magic Castle.
Who was Dai Vernon? The Professor who fooled Houdini
The history of sawing a woman in half
How P. T. Selbit, Horace Goldin and Robert Harbin turned sawing a woman in half into one of magic’s most famous stage illusions.
The history of sawing a woman in half
The Chinese linking rings: a history of magic’s great metal mystery
Where the linking rings come from, from an eighteenth-century Japanese book to Philippe’s Paris stage and the three-ring routines of today.
The Chinese linking rings: a history of magic’s great metal mystery
