Alexander: Good or Evil?
The following article, written by Mike Caveney, first appeared in the Conjuring Arts Bulletin: Vol.1, No.1 I recently had a spirited conversation with a group of magic collectors over the pros and cons of our very own database: Alexander – The Computer That Knows. Some suggested that any publisher who allowed his books to be scanned and uploaded onto the data base, [...]
Willard: A Life Under Canvas
Here is the untold true story of the Willard family and the four men who toured rural America as Willard the Wizard. Besides scouring old magazines, newspapers, letters, scrapbooks and photographs, author David Charvet had the full cooperation of Eugene, Madeline and Frances Willard who grew up backstage on the Willard the Wizard show. Here [...]
MAGIC, 1400s – 1950s
This book celebrates more than 500 years of the dazzling visual culture of the world’s greatest magicians. Featuring more than 1,000 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, engravings and paintings, this 650-page volume traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s. Combining sensational images with lucid and incisive [...]
Will the Real Chang Please Stand Up
The following article, written by Mike Caveney, first appeared in the Conjuring Arts Bulletin: Vol.1, No.2 My wife, Tina Lenert, and I were recently invited to perform at a magic festival in Badalona, Spain, a suburb of Barcelona. It was not a magic convention, but rather a festival geared to the lay community. We did [...]
When in Doubt – Ask Alexander
The following article, written by Mike Caveney, first appeared in the Conjuring Arts Bulletin: Vol.1, No.2 During the first couple of decades of the twentieth century “ask Alexander” meant drop a question (along with a dollar bill) into an envelope and send it to 239 South Oxford Avenue in Los Angeles. By return mail your question [...]
Gibecière Vol. 1, No. 2
Issue two of Gibeciere continues the scholarly tradition begun in issue one with three exceptional articles. The first article marks the beginning of Mitsunobu Matsuyama’s enlightening series of articles, “An Investigation into Magic in Japan after the Opening of the Country”. Albrecht Heeffer contributes the next article, “Recreations Mathematiques: A Study of Its Authorship, Sources [...]
The Secret Life of Houdini, Laid Bare
The Secret Life of Houdini, Laid Bare: Available now from Mike Caveney’s Magic Words. A new collectors’ set that includes the footnotes to The Secret Life of Houdini. In this limited edition set you get a 1st printing, 1st edition of the biography with a special new color frontispiece signed and numbered by both authors and a [...]
