- Herrmann, Alexander. Herrmann's Book of Magic.
Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co., 1903.
LCCN 05035787.
-
When you were a kid, did your grandfather ever pull a coin from his
pocket, clap his hands together and make it disappear, then
“find” it behind your ear, sending you off to the Popsicle
truck for a summer evening treat? If so, and you're now grandparent
age yourself, this may be the book from which he learned that trick.
Alexander Herrmann was a prominent stage magician in the latter half
of the nineteenth century. In this 1903 book, he reveals many of the
secrets of the conjuror, from the fundamental sleight of hand skills
of palming objects and vanishing and producing them, to the operation
of famous illusions such as the disembodied head which speaks. This
on-line edition, available
both in HTML and Plain ASCII formats, is a complete reproduction of the
book, including (in the HTML edition) all the illustrations.
If you must have a printed copy, you may find one at
abebooks.com,
but it will probably be expensive. It's much
better to read the on-line edition produced from a copy found by
Bill Walker at a yard sale and kindly contributed to produce this
edition.
July 2006 