David Copperfield’s History of Magic

Award-winning magician David Copperfield and his coauthors have pieced together a historical record of performers who have bewitched audiences with their magic from the 1500s to the present age where currently the eponymous Dickensian reigns. More than two dozen of these artists are described along with some of the paraphernalia they devised. These objects, whether books, trunks, spinning saws, cards, costumes, along. with photographs of these male and female wizards are juxtaposed within the stories of these versatile conjurers. Whether. they are mentalists (mind readers), prestidigitators (using sleight of hand with the playing cards), conjurers (magicians) toying with disappearing animals, objects, even persons; these spellbinding charmers bewitch their audiences as the viewers gasp and try to solve the mysterious conundrums. In this dramatically illustrated edition of magical materials from photographs taken from the author’s museum collection of collected artifacts from past performers, learn about Robert-Houdin and ‘Ethereal Suspension’, remember the escape artist, Houdini who adopted the name of the aforementioned admired colleague. For everyone delighted by the frisson that magical mystery induces, read more about these illusionists and the tricks they learned to play on our minds in this current publication.