Modern Enchantments

Modern Enchantments
Author: Simon During
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780674013711

Magic, During suggests, has helped shape modern culture. Devoted to this deceptively simple proposition, During's work gets at the aesthetic questions at the very heart of the study of culture. How can the most ordinary arts—and by “magic,” During means not the supernatural, but the special effects and conjurings of magic shows—affect people?

Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World

Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World
Author: Paul Allan Mirecki
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2002
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9789004116764

This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The strength of the present volume lies in the breadth of scholarly approaches represented. The book begins with several papyrological studies presenting important new texts in Greek and Coptic, continuing with essays focussing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures. Paul Mirecki, Th.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. (1979) in Religion, Claremont Graduate School, is Professor of Religion at Chapman University, Orange, California, and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.

Satanism: A Social History

Satanism: A Social History
Author: Massimo Introvigne
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2016-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004244964

A 17th-century French haberdasher invented the Black Mass. An 18th-century English Cabinet Minister administered the Eucharist to a baboon. High-ranking Catholic authorities in the 19th century believed that Satan appeared in Masonic lodges in the shape of a crocodile and played the piano there. A well-known scientist from the 20th century established a cult of the Antichrist and exploded in a laboratory experiment. Three Italian girls in 2000 sacrificed a nun to the Devil. A Black Metal band honored Satan in Krakow, Poland, in 2004 by exhibiting on stage 120 decapitated sheep heads. Some of these stories, as absurd as they might sound, were real. Others, which might appear to be equally well reported, are false. But even false stories have generated real societal reactions. For the first time, Massimo Introvigne proposes a general social history of Satanism and anti-Satanism, from the French Court of Louis XIV to the Satanic scares of the late 20th century, satanic themes in Black Metal music, the Church of Satan, and beyond.

Ancient Magic and Ritual Power

Ancient Magic and Ritual Power
Author: Paul Mirecki
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2015-08-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004283811

This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The essays are authored by leading scholars in the fields of Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, the Hebrew Bible, Judaica, classical Greek and Roman studies, early Christianity and patristics, and Coptology. Throughout the book the essays examine the terms employed in descriptions of ancient magic. From this examination comes a clarification of magic as a polemical term of exclusion but also an understanding of the classical Egyptian and early Greek conceptions of magic as a more neutral category of inclusion. This book should prove to be foundational for future scholarly studies of ancient magic and ritual power. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Modern Magic

Modern Magic
Author: Professor Hoffmann
Publisher: e-artnow
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2020-05-15
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN:

"Modern Magic" is a treatise in book form, detailing the apparatus, methods and tricks used by the magicians and conjurors. It was the first book in the English language to really explain how to perform magical feats. The treatise contains advice on the appearance, the dress and the staging of a magician. It then goes on to describe many tricks with playing cards, coins, watches, rings, handkerchiefs, dominoes, dice, cups, balls and hats, and concludes with a long chapter of miscellaneous tricks, including magic with strings, gloves, eggs, rice and some utility devices. The penultimate chapter describes large stage illusions, and the final chapter contains advice on routining a magic show, as well as more advice on staging.

Exclusive Magical Secrets

Exclusive Magical Secrets
Author: Will Goldston
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2015-04-14
Genre:
ISBN: 9781500623821

Exclusive Magical Secrets was originally published by The Magician Ltd as a limited edition of 1000 in 1912. It was bound with a lock on the cover and became known as "The Locked Book of Magical Secrets." The author, Will Goldston, was born in 1878 in Liverpool and first went on stage under the name Carl Devo. He later became the manager/buyer of Gamage's Theatrical and Entertainment Department. Goldston was an early member of the Magic Circle but resigned and formed his own society - The Magicians' Club of London with Harry Houdini as President, a post he held until his death. He set up in business as William Goldston Ltd in Aladdin House near Leicester Square in London where he sold "magic tricks." The business was later bought by Davenports, the famous London magic shop. He edited a number of publications: Magician Annual (1907-1912), Magician Monthly (1904-1913), Magazine of Magic (1914-1930) and Golston's Magical Quarterly (1934-1940). If he had been alive today it is likely that Will Goldston would have been one of the most famous people in the world of magic. As it is his legacy stands, not only in his writings but also in the inspiration he gave to future generations of magicians. Like many other books of this era some of the tricks described use substances and methods that would be considered dangerous today and are most likely unobtainable. However, as magicians are always re-inventing old tricks in many cases there are simple substitutes. You are warned, however, not to take any risks. As with other offerings in The Golden Age of Magic series this volume is not a straightforward reproduction of the original text. There are a number of reasons for this. The main one, as with almost all early books, is that the typefaces used frequently make reading a chore rather than a pleasure. There is also the fact that the original printings were poorly edited, resulting in spelling errors and sometimes mistakes which completely alter the meaning of the text. Wherever possible we have endeavored to reproduce illustrations from the original to the highest possible standard and, in many cases, have been able to improve them. However, you should be aware that some illustrations in the original books were, themselves, copied from documents that were then many years old and some reproductions may not be to present day standards. However, we have taken the liberty of producing the book to make it both accurate and accessible. We would hope that, were the author alive today, he would very much approve of this edition.

More Magic

More Magic
Author: Hoffmann (Professor)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 488
Release: 1890
Genre: Magic tricks
ISBN: