History of Magic

There are a few sites dedicated to the history of magic and a few online magic dealers and other magic sites which have a bit of historical information, but it is rare to find a well written article on the subject.

However, this editorial on Buzzle (one of few good quality article sites) Magic and Magicians in the 19th Century provides a great overview of the recent history of magic and early magicians. There are quite a few I haven’t heard of and I’d be interested to read the book which is the main source for this article.

Homepage of Magician Jeff McBride

One of the top magicians in the world today is Jeff McBride. (See www.mcbridemagic.com)

What probably sets him apart from many other magicians is the unique way that he combines magic with other art forms, such as dance, martial arts and music. It has won him numerous awards in the magical world.

Check out the promo videos on his site, very, very, good.

Biography of Harry Houdini

It’s amazing the impact that Harry Houdini had on the magic world.

He must have been not only a great magician, but also a great marketeer, because even now his name is synonymous with magic and escapology.

You can read a detailed biography of Harry Houdini on the website of the Appleton Public Library, which is based on the biography Harry Houdini by Adam Woog (Lucent Books, 1995).

Of particular interest is the manner of his death, which was from a burst appendix after being punched in the stomach by an amateur boxer, not from being unable to escape from the water torture cell as some people think.

I’m Back!

I’ve been neglecting this blog for a while because I’ve busy with other things like my Entertainer Directory and other magic work.

But I’m back with an interesting addition  to the list of magic sites, the magic pages at wikipedia. Wikipedia is a great resource although sometimes you wonder about it’s accuracy, since anyone can edit it. However, the pages about magic are quite well written and accurate.

There are quite a few other pages, such as profiles of famous magicians, information about specific magic tricks and a magic time line.

Magic Ebooks

For any magicians out there who use a Palm or Pocket PC, the All Magic Reader has a number of free ebooks for download.

Some of them cover a particular topic such as the Haunted Key or Deck Switching and some have various contributions from magicians such as Simon Lovell and Jim Sisti.

Although not groundbreaking clever new magic (is there such a thing?), I’ve found some of these ebooks to be quite informative. In a couple of cases, they’ve encouraged me to revisit some old tricks and props tucked away in my magic draw.