Genii's MagicPedia, preserving the history and techniques of magic

October 11, 2013 12:30 PM

Genii, the conjurer's magazine is the longest-running independent magazine devoted to magic and magicians in the history of the art. Their website has a bit of information for the public including some lively forums, but the real treasure trove is MagicPedia. There, you can find over three thousand biographies, information on almost 1,700 books of and about magic, nearly 200 magic organizations, and so much more. The current featured article is on the American Civil War, and the role numerous magicians played at that time.
posted by filthy light thief (12 comments total)

If you're looking for all the tricks of the trade, you're out of luck, but there are some illusions explained, and a good number of embedded videos, but I'll leave you to discover more on your own.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:42 PM on October 11, 2013

Ok kids, let's try this.

Think of a number between 1 and 100.

Visualize it.

(no esoteric things like pi or e)

Do you have it?

Ok post it.
posted by sammyo at 1:04 PM on October 11, 2013

Double floats ok?
posted by benzenedream at 1:05 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh man, remember when we used to play Necropotence to dig for Illusions/Donate? Oh wait... you're talking about something else.
posted by keratacon at 1:09 PM on October 11, 2013

I remember reading about the lives of the great magicians, so so sad that live vaudeville was such a short period, musta been grand. Fly to Las Vegas for a big shoe but, the Houdini's and Blackstones coming to town, grand.
posted by sammyo at 1:09 PM on October 11, 2013

I'm putting this in the new Poof.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 1:33 PM on October 11, 2013

I've just fallen down a rabbit hole because of a past reference to Richard Potter. I looked up his bio on MagicPedia, and found a broadside for one of his shows. From this, I found Robert A. Olson (not to be confused with Robert E. Olson!), who specialized in researching and performing magic and entertainment acts from centuries past.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:34 PM on October 11, 2013

sammyo: If you haven't already, check out Jim Steinmeyer's books. Vanishing the Elephant & Last Greatest Magician are excellent.
posted by dr_dank at 3:22 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

But magic is all balderdash and chicanery!
posted by elizardbits at 4:10 PM on October 11, 2013

Read this sentence carefully.
posted by humanfont at 6:05 PM on October 11, 2013

I like the chicanery best!
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:14 PM on October 11, 2013

I can also vouch for Steinmeyer's books and I'm not a magician and have never been to a magic show. Half way through Last Greatest at the moment (which isn't as good as Vanishing, IMO.)
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:10 AM on October 12, 2013