Henry Hay (1910–1985)

This book by Henry Hay is a one-volume encyclopedia of magic. It covers the whole range of magic as a performing art from A to W. The articles are illustrated with forty-two black-and-white photographs and 350 line drawings.

Within its pages, the reader will find all kinds of articles about magic. Are you looking for the chronicles of magic? For biographical sketches of great performers? For literature about magic? For effective business and publicity methods? For presentation hints for different kinds of magic shows (for example, children's shows, night-club shows, comedy shows, and stage shows)? Henry Hay has researched the field of magic to answer questions like these.

Be prepared to do a lot of page-flipping while reading articles in this book. Many topics cannot be explored in depth without following numerous cross-references. For example, the article on APPARATUS consists entirely of cross-references. First, you will find fifty cross-references to the varieties of apparatus used by magicians, whose equipment includes hidden gimmicks, visible fakes, and numerous other props. After that, you will find twenty cross-references to tricks using apparatus, such as, the Bird Cage, the Chinese Wands, the Multiplying Billiard Balls, and the Rice Bowls. The article on ILLUSIONS consists of a very brief definition of what an illusion is, and is not, followed by twenty-six cross-references both to illusions, such as, levitations and stage settings, and to illusionists, such as, Houdini, Thurston, and Blackstone. The article on IMPROMPTU EFFECTS consists of twenty-nine cross-references to close-up tricks using familiar props, such as, card tricks, coin tricks, mind-reading tricks, ring tricks, and handkerchief tricks, followed by a bibliography of standard works on the subject from such writers as David Devant and Jean Hugard.

To get an inkling of the breadth of articles about magicians, here are the performers you can read about from A to C: ANDERSON (1814-1874), six generations of BAMBERGS (1760-1904), BELLACHINI (1828-1885), BLACKSTONE (1885-1965), BLITZ (1810-1877), BOSCO (1790-1863), BRESLAW (1726-1783), CARDINI (1895-1973), CHING LING FOO (1854-1918), CHUNG LING SOO (1861-1918), COMTE (1788-1859), and CULPITT (1877-1944). You can imagine the extensive list of performers who can be found as you progress through the remainder of the alphabet.

It takes Hay scarcely two pages to tell the HISTORY of magic, which he divides into three periods. The first period starts with the beginning of recorded history and ends in the mid-eighteenth century. The performers of that era were mostly itinerant showmen performing outdoors. The one trick that can be found throughout this era is the Cups and Balls. The second period extends from the mid-eighteenth century through the second half of the nineteenth century. This was the era of trap doors, mechanical pistons, automata, and mirrors, when magicians who dressed in long, flowing robes performed their art in theaters with elaborate staging. The third period, the modern era, began in the second half of the nineteenth century. This is when magicians began to abandon their dependence on mechanical contraptions and flowing robes. They became illusionists, manipulators, escape artists, mentalists, and close-up artists -- actors pretending to be magicians, if you please. The one trick that can be found throughout the history of magic is the Cups and Balls. The one prop that pervades all eras is the magic wand. To learn more about the history of magic from Hay's Cyclopedia, read the biographical sketches of the famous magicians.

This is not a book for the young or for beginners in magic. It is not tutorial in nature. It is a reference book. Magicians, professional or amateur, who are already familiar with magical props, sleights, misdirection, and the like, will be the chief beneficiaries of this book. This book will do two things for them. First, it will make them better informed practitioners of their art. Second, it will help them make discriminating purchases of magic tricks from vendors.

For excellent tutorials on magic for beginners, see Fun With Magic (1943) by Joseph Leeming, The Amateur Magician's Handbook (1950) by Henry Hay, Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic (1975), and The Practical Encyclopedia of Magic (2004) by Nicholas Einhorn.… (more)