You can use your St. Louis County Library card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:
1 of 1 copy available
In this personal journey through a unique and remarkable performing art, David Copperfield profiles twenty-eight of the world's most groundbreaking magicians. From the 16th-century magistrate who wrote the first book on conjuring to the roaring twenties and the man who fooled Houdini, to the woman who levitated, vanished, and caught bullets in her teeth, David Copperfield's History of Magic takes you on a wild journey through the remarkable feats of the greatest magicians in history.
These magicians were all outsiders in their own way, many of them determined to use magic to escape the strictures of class and convention. But they all transformed popular culture, adapted to social change, discovered the inner workings of the human mind, embraced the latest technological and scientific discoveries, and took the art of magic to unprecedented heights.
The incredible stories are complimented by over 100 never-before-seen photographs of artifacts from Copperfield's exclusive Museum of Magic, including a 16th-century manual on sleight of hand, Houdini's straightjackets, handcuffs, and water torture chamber, Dante's famous sawing-in-half apparatus, Alexander's high-tech turban that allowed him to read people's minds, and even some coins that may have magically passed through the hands of Abraham Lincoln.
By the end of the book, you'll be sure to share Copperfield's passion for the power of magic.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
October 26, 2021 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781982112936
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781982112936
- File size: 189385 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
October 15, 2021
One of the greatest illusionists of all time, with 21 Emmy Awards he'll never let vanish, Copperfield here chronicles 28 magicians who greatly influenced the art. He starts with a 16th-century magistrate who wrote the first book on the subject, moves up to a trickster to tricked Houdini, and ends with a woman who caught bullets in her teeth. With a 150,000-copy first printing and more than 100 never-before-seen photographs.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-
Starred review from September 1, 2021
Not precisely a history of magic, this beautifully illustrated book is actually an armchair tour through Copperfield's vast International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, which the famed stage magician assembled piece by piece, almost entirely in secret, over a period of more than 30 years. In taking us through his collection, Copperfield introduces some of the key people in the history of magic. Here, for example, is Reginald Scot, whose sixteenth-century book The Discoverie of Witchcraft (in which Scot revealed the secrets of some popular illusions) may have played a key role in the shift away from a belief in witchcraft and the eventual end to witch hunts, though not until after the Salem witchcraft trials in the late-seventeenth century. Here's John Nevil Maskelyne, whose technique of presenting stage illusions within a narrative framework inspired the early filmmaker Georges M�li�s to incorporate special effects into his movies. Here's Adelaide Herrmann, "magic's first female headliner," who conquered vaudeville and inspired countless young women. The names in this book--Houdini, Henning, Blackstone, Thurston, Kellar--constitute a veritable Who's Who of magic, and there is no one more qualified to talk about them, and the wonderful illusions they crafted, than Copperfield. For fans of magic, either its history or its present, the book is absolutely compelling, an unputdownable must-read.COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
-