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Modern Magic
2016 Reprint of 1920s Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Professor Hoffmann was the first in recorded history to attempt to record magic in an encyclopedic fashion beginning with his "Modern Magic." The material in this book [and others he wrote] recorded the state of the art of magic of the late 19th century. The first edition of 2,000 copies were sold out in seven weeks. Most magicians at the time were upset with the exposure. But over time it became the "bible" for many would be magicians, and remains so today. It was rated as one of the "Ten basic books for a working library of conjuring". Chapters include: - CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION - CHAPTER II GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SLEIGHT-OF-HAND APPLICABLE TO CARD TRICKS - CHAPTER III CARD TRICKS WITH ORDINARY CARDS, AND NOT REQUIRING SLEIGHT-OF-HAND - CHAPTER IV TRICKS INVOLVING SLEIGHT-OF-HAND, OR THE USE OF SPECIALLY PREPARED CARDS - CHAPTER V CARD TRICKS REQUIRING SPECIAL APPARATUS - CHAPTER VI PRINCIPLES OF sLEIGHT-OF-HAND MORE ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO COIN TRICKS - CHAPTER VII TRICKS WITH COIN WITHOUT APPARATUS - CHAPTER VIII TRICKS WITH COIN REQUIRING SPECIAL APPARATUS - CHAPTER IX TRICKS WITH WATCHES - CHAPTER X TRICKS WITH RINGS - CHAPTER XI TRICKS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS - CHAPTER XII TRICKS WITH DOMINOES AND DICE - CHAPTER XIII THE CUPS AND BALLS - CHAPTER XIV BALL TRICKS REQUIRING SPECIAL APPARATUS. - CHAPTER XV HAT TRICKS - CHAPTER XVI MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS - CHAPTER XVII STAGE TRICKS - CHAPTER XVIII CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS - APPENDIX o CHAPTER I Introduction o CHAPTER II KEMPELEN: Kempelen's Speaking Figure o CHAPTER III THEODIN o CHAPTER IV AUTOMATA: PSYCHO o CHAPTER V MARIONETTES o CHAPTER VI CLAIRVOYANCE o CHAPTER VII SPIRITUALISM o CHAPTER VIII PARLOR MAGIC
- GenresMagicNonfiction
584 pages, Paperback
First published June 3, 1876
15 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Professor Hoffmann
64 books2 followersProfessor Louis Hoffmann was born as Angelo John Lewis in London, England on 23 July 1839. He studied law at Oxford University and became a barrister in London.
During the early 1860s he learned magic from a book and became an amateur magician.
In 1876, under the pen name Professor Hoffman, he published Modern Magic to educate the public in how to become a magician, including how to perform sleight of hand tricks, as well as how to dress.
Although Lewis is primarily known for his non-fiction works, especially those on magic, he also wrote a significant amount of fiction.
During the early 1860s he learned magic from a book and became an amateur magician.
In 1876, under the pen name Professor Hoffman, he published Modern Magic to educate the public in how to become a magician, including how to perform sleight of hand tricks, as well as how to dress.
Although Lewis is primarily known for his non-fiction works, especially those on magic, he also wrote a significant amount of fiction.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 15, 2025
A thorough presentation of the state of the conjurer's art at the time of its publication (1876), detailing a number of tricks and variations on them. This includes tricks with cards, coins, handkerchiefs, watches, rings, dominoes, dice and the like, and the still widely popular cups and balls. The instructions are comprehensive and clear, and accompanied with diagrams of special apparatus and of the methods of manipulation. Many of the tricks don't require any special apparatus or preparation, but rely purely on manipulation of everyday objects.
I'm sure the magician's art has come a long way in the subsequent century and a half, but the foundation is still sleight of hand and cleverly constructed apparatus. I'm sure a modern aspiring magician could probably still find inspiration here, and many of the tricks have likely remained unchanged in their essentials.
This would also be a great book to read if you were thinking of writing a magician character in the late 19th century, or even some other-world equivalent. I'm not currently thinking of doing that, at least not seriously, but if I ever do, I'll return to this book for material.
One of the key points I took from it, which applies to clever mystery stories too: if a magician ever wants you to believe that an object is somewhere, it is inevitably somewhere else, and if they want you to believe that it's a particular object (say, the one they borrowed from an audience member), you can rely upon the fact that it is not that object but a substitute. If they want you to believe that something is happening at a particular time - like an object moving from one place to another - that thing has definitely already happened. Anything the magician says or does openly is intended to mislead or distract, and nothing is as it seems.
All of this reminds me very much of the kind of mysteries you get in, say, the TV show Death in Paradise, which my wife and I are currently watching in sequence from the beginning. If anyone has a rock-solid alibi for the time of the crime, you should suspect that the crime did not, in fact, take place at that time, or if it did, that the alibi has been faked. If someone claims that the victim was dead when they found them, suspect them of killing the victim after their apparent discovery (probably having previously rendered them unconscious or duped them into pretending to be dead). If a room appears to have been locked with just the victim inside, either it wasn't really locked, or it was locked in some clever way that only made it look as if it had been locked from the inside, or the victim died after locking it themselves, or... You get the point.
Another interesting point he makes is that you should never do the same trick twice in the same way, but if you create the same effect twice in two different ways, you can use the opportunity to show something with each method that would make the other method impossible. The audience will assume that both tricks were done the same way, since the effect is the same, and so won't guess either method.
The author has one verbal peculiarity: he sometimes says "either" when he means "any," for example referring to "either of the four categories". It's pretty clear from context what he means, though.
I didn't read the whole of the book, because it does get repetitious after a while, and I was there for an overview rather than for every detail. But it's good.
I'm sure the magician's art has come a long way in the subsequent century and a half, but the foundation is still sleight of hand and cleverly constructed apparatus. I'm sure a modern aspiring magician could probably still find inspiration here, and many of the tricks have likely remained unchanged in their essentials.
This would also be a great book to read if you were thinking of writing a magician character in the late 19th century, or even some other-world equivalent. I'm not currently thinking of doing that, at least not seriously, but if I ever do, I'll return to this book for material.
One of the key points I took from it, which applies to clever mystery stories too: if a magician ever wants you to believe that an object is somewhere, it is inevitably somewhere else, and if they want you to believe that it's a particular object (say, the one they borrowed from an audience member), you can rely upon the fact that it is not that object but a substitute. If they want you to believe that something is happening at a particular time - like an object moving from one place to another - that thing has definitely already happened. Anything the magician says or does openly is intended to mislead or distract, and nothing is as it seems.
All of this reminds me very much of the kind of mysteries you get in, say, the TV show Death in Paradise, which my wife and I are currently watching in sequence from the beginning. If anyone has a rock-solid alibi for the time of the crime, you should suspect that the crime did not, in fact, take place at that time, or if it did, that the alibi has been faked. If someone claims that the victim was dead when they found them, suspect them of killing the victim after their apparent discovery (probably having previously rendered them unconscious or duped them into pretending to be dead). If a room appears to have been locked with just the victim inside, either it wasn't really locked, or it was locked in some clever way that only made it look as if it had been locked from the inside, or the victim died after locking it themselves, or... You get the point.
Another interesting point he makes is that you should never do the same trick twice in the same way, but if you create the same effect twice in two different ways, you can use the opportunity to show something with each method that would make the other method impossible. The audience will assume that both tricks were done the same way, since the effect is the same, and so won't guess either method.
The author has one verbal peculiarity: he sometimes says "either" when he means "any," for example referring to "either of the four categories". It's pretty clear from context what he means, though.
I didn't read the whole of the book, because it does get repetitious after a while, and I was there for an overview rather than for every detail. But it's good.
Displaying 1 of 1 review