The Online Magic Store Blog: Magic History

A nineteenth-century magician’s study with a clockwork automaton, an orange tree and a candlelit desk

Who was Robert-Houdin, the father of modern magic?

Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin turned conjuring into elegant theatre in 1840s Paris and gave Houdini his name; here is his story, his famous ill…

A solid clear acrylic block the size of a deck beside a face-down deck of playing cards

The Omni family: how the clear-deck idea evolved

How the Omni idea grew from a deck that turns into clear plastic to pens, coins and props with a second surprise inside.

A Victorian dressing table by candlelight with a spool of black thread, a needle, beeswax and white gloves

The history of thread magic: from a single hair to elastic loops

From a hair in a 1584 exposé to Victorian black silk and modern elastic loops, here is how thread magic developed.

A green baize card table around 1900 with an oil lamp, a pocket watch, poker chips, cards and an old book

Who was S. W. Erdnase?

The 1902 card book The Expert at the Card Table is still in print, but nobody knows for certain who wrote it; here are the clues and the le…