Daniel (ed.) - MAGIC 1400s - 1950s - 2021

MAGIC 1400s – 1950s – Edited by Noel Daniel, Introduction by Ricky Jay, Essays and Captions by Mike Caveney and Jim Steinmeyer - Köln, Taschen 2021

in Folio, 26 x 38 cm., kg. 5, publisher’s hardback, pictorial dust jacket, 535 (9) pages, lavishly illustrated throughout, condition: fine.

For millennia, magic has captivated humanity, evoking terror, surprise, and wonder. Once persecuted for heresy or witchcraft, magicians have always acted as intermediaries between us and a parallel universe of limitless possibilities—conjuring spirits, reading minds, or defying the laws of nature through their sleight of hand. Long before the advent of science fiction, virtual reality, video games, and the Internet, magicians were the pioneers of special effects in human history. This book celebrates over 500 years of the astonishing visual culture surrounding the world’s greatest magicians, spanning from the 15th century to the 1950s. Hundreds of rare posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings—gathered into a single 500-page volume—trace the history of magic as a stage art. Through evocative imagery and informative text, *Magic 1400s–1950s* brings together, for the first time, the rich visual vocabulary of this art form—from early street illusionists to the great masters of the Golden Age and 20th-century icons like Houdini.

The world's greatest magicians from the Middle Ages to the 1950s. Take a truly magical mistery tour with this sparkling compendium of magic and trickery from medieval thaumaturgies to 20th-century showmen. Featuring hundreds of rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings, The Magic Book follows this special performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s.

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