Natural Magic, or Physical Amusements Revealed

Philip Astley, the riding master of Westminster Bridge and founder of the modern circus ring, reveals the tricks he added to his shows: card discoveries, a card struck by a pistol shot, a dancing card and an automaton that answers questions.

What’s inside

1. The grand Sultan — an automaton that answers questions like the little learned horse
2. The handkerchief marked, cut, torn and mended
3. The artificial bird — singing at the company’s command
4. Card experiments — the dancing card, the nailed card, cards named blindfold, and more
5. The piece of money shut up in a box
6. The writing concealed in a snuff-box — later found in a wax candle
7. Three penknives in a silver cup
8. The dance of the egg
9. The bird dead and restored to life
10. The golden head and rings — dancing in a glass to answer questions
11. The ring passed upon a double ribbon
12. The sympathetic lamp
13. The little huntsman
14. The ball and the mansion-house with three doors
15. Theophrastus Paracelsus, or the pigeon killed with a pistol-shot
16. The magic nosegay — blowing at the word of command
17. The ring in the pistol — found in the beak of a dove in a sealed box
18. The coffer which opens at will
19. The watch pounded in a mortar
20. The pistol and the ball caught on a knife

Philip Astley, 1785 · Printed for the author (London). Complete 48-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.