Fascinating!
4 steloj
This collection of a dozen essays was a fascinating read for me. Abbott was a magician himself so publicly performed many of the tricks he was later to explain via his The Open Court essays. The difference, he is often a pains to point out, is that his performances are physical tricks and clever misdirection - with absolutely nothing supernatural going on at all - and he always stated this. At the time he wrote, spiritualism was very fashionable though. Convincing mediums, of whom there were thousands touring America alone, could make themselves very wealthy from presenting exactly the same tricks as true communications from the dead and it seems that deception without audience consent is what Abbott really disapproved of.
I loved the inventiveness and ingenuity of many of the illusions. In fact I am sure I've seen some being performed by TV and stage magicians over 100 years …
This collection of a dozen essays was a fascinating read for me. Abbott was a magician himself so publicly performed many of the tricks he was later to explain via his The Open Court essays. The difference, he is often a pains to point out, is that his performances are physical tricks and clever misdirection - with absolutely nothing supernatural going on at all - and he always stated this. At the time he wrote, spiritualism was very fashionable though. Convincing mediums, of whom there were thousands touring America alone, could make themselves very wealthy from presenting exactly the same tricks as true communications from the dead and it seems that deception without audience consent is what Abbott really disapproved of.
I loved the inventiveness and ingenuity of many of the illusions. In fact I am sure I've seen some being performed by TV and stage magicians over 100 years later, and still to great effect. In several cases I was more impressed by knowing the skill needed to convincingly perform a particular effect than I might have been just by witnessing the trick itself. I can only imagine the effect on an audience of true believers at the time. Abbott's essays aren't an instruction manual although they do give a good sense of each trick and I liked his authoritative but enthusiastic writing style. Abbott obviously thoroughly enjoyed deciphering the tricks just for the joy of knowing how each worked and it's wonderful that Katherine Nabity has taken the time to collect together and republish his writings on the subject.