Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions

The huge Scientific American book of stage magic: how the great illusions, theatrical effects and trick photography of the 19th century worked, with hundreds of engravings. Introduction by Henry Ridgely Evans.

Albert A. Hopkins, 1897 · Munn & Co. Complete 580-page PDF. Free to download: check out at $0 and the file arrives by email and on your order page.

This classic is in the public domain. Scans come from library copies, so expect the odd stain or stamp of an old book.