Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography

THE SKIRT DANCE.
COMPILED AND EDITED BY ALBERT A. HOPKINS EDITOR OF THE “SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA OF RECEIPTS, NOTES AND QUERIES,” ETC.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY RIDGELY EVANS AUTHOR OF “HOURS WITH THE GHOSTS; OR, XIX. CENTURY WITCHCRAFT,” ETC.
WITH FOUR HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND COMPANY LIMITED St. Dunstan’s House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 1897
Copyright, 1897, by MUNN & CO. NEW YORK ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL, LONDON, ENGLAND
All rights reserved
The articles used from the Scientific American and the Scientific American Supplement are copyrighted
Printed in the U. S. A. by J. J. Little & Co., New York City

It is believed that the present work occupies a unique field in the extensive literature of magic. There are already a large number of treatises on natural magic and legerdemain, but in most of them very little attention has been given to the exposé of stage illusions, which are of great interest as they are so largely based on ingenious applications of scientific principles. Optics, mechanics, sound, and electricity have all been pressed into service by the fin de siècle prestidigitateur. In the present work great attention has been paid to elaborate tricks of this nature, and in many cases the exposés have been obtained from the prestidigitateurs themselves. In the first few chapters many of the best illusions of Robert-Houdin, Dr. Lynn, Professor Pepper, Bautier de Kolta, Heller, Herrmann, Maskelyne and Cooke, and Kellar will be found clearly explained.