1904 MODERN MAGIC Professor Hoffmann Conjuring Tricks Illustrated Occult Antique For Sale

Philadelphia: David McKay, [1904]
American Edition
318 Illustrations
Original Pictorial Publisher’s Cloth
All Edges Gilt
Classic Victorian Manual of Conjuring, Sleight of Hand & Stage Magic

HOFFMANN, Professor [Angelo John Lewis]. Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring.

Philadelphia: David McKay, Publisher, 604–8 South Washington Square, [1904]. American Edition.

An attractive early American edition of one of the foundational books of modern conjuring, preserved in its elaborate original pictorial cloth binding and illustrated throughout with 318 engravings and diagrams explaining nineteenth-century magic tricks, apparatus, sleight of hand, card manipulation, coin tricks, stage illusions, and related techniques.

The David McKay edition is bibliographically recorded as appearing in 1904 and comprises xvii, 563 pages.

Modern Magic was written by Angelo John Lewis (1839–1919) under his celebrated professional name Professor Hoffmann. Originally published in Britain in the 1870s, it became one of the most influential instructional works on conjuring in the English language.

Unlike the brief trick books and pamphlets commonly produced during the period, Hoffmann attempted a systematic treatment of the magician’s art. The book covers subjects including:

• card manipulation and sleight of hand
• false shuffles, forces, and card transformations
• coins and money tricks
• cups and balls
• handkerchief tricks
• watches and rings
• magical apparatus
• stage and parlor conjuring
• secret compartments and mechanical devices
• production, disappearance, and transformation effects

The volume concludes with an appendix explaining celebrated effects associated with John Nevil Maskelyne and George Alfred Cooke, two central figures in Victorian stage magic.

The work contains 318 illustrations, many showing the actual handling, apparatus, and mechanical principles behind nineteenth-century conjuring. The title page specifically advertises the appendix of Maskelyne and Cooke specialties. Contemporary bibliographic records identify this McKay issue as 563 pages.

Especially appealing is the elaborate original publisher’s pictorial cloth binding.

The front board is decorated with images of magical effects and apparatus, including hands performing tricks, cards, coins, a goblet, and other conjuring devices surrounded by ornamental foliage. The spine carries the title in gilt together with additional pictorial decoration.

The binding is stamped in black, gilt, and metallic tones, giving the volume considerably greater decorative appeal than the comparatively plain bindings found on some later editions.

The text block has gilt edges, still clearly visible.

A bookseller specializing in magic has likewise described the McKay American edition in brown cloth with gilt and black stamping, while Potter & Potter has catalogued matching McKay editions in brown pictorial cloth.

The book retains the striking full-page frontispiece depicting an illusion in which the apparently visible body of the performer is concealed beneath a table supporting an Egyptian-style head apparatus.

Hundreds of additional illustrations appear throughout the text.

Good antique condition overall, with notable binding wear.

The original pictorial cloth remains attractive and the elaborate front-cover design is substantially intact, although the metallic decoration is rubbed and faded in places.

There is general rubbing and handling wear to the cloth, with edge and corner wear. Most significantly, there is substantial fraying and loss of cloth at the foot of the spine, exposing the underlying structure of the binding. The spine head also shows rubbing and wear.

Rear board with rubbing, discoloration, and scattered marks consistent with age and use.

The gilt page edges remain present, though dulled and rubbed.

Endpapers show age toning, scattered spotting and handling marks. Interior paper is naturally toned with occasional foxing or spotting. The illustrated frontispiece and title page are present.

Despite the external wear, this remains a very visually appealing example of an important early book on magic, retaining its original decorated publisher’s binding rather than having been rebound.

Please examine the photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description.