Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

Modern Magic, published in 1876 under the pen name Professor Hoffmann by the English barrister Angelo Lewis, is a complete course in conjuring and was the first book to explain the methods of the professional stage magician in detail to the public. Hoffmann begins with the principles of sleight of hand, then treats tricks with cards, coins, watches, rings, handkerchiefs, balls, cups and dice, and goes on to the larger stage illusions and the apparatus used to perform them, with hundreds of diagrams. Working magicians complained that he had given away their secrets, but the book trained a generation of amateurs and professionals and remained the standard text for decades. The full text is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, and the first chapter is free.