Staging Magic: The Story Behind the Illusion


Disappointing exhibition at Senate House looking at magic from the 16th to the 20th century.

I say disappointing because the description of the show was much more exciting than the way it was delivered. The objects, given it was the library which had organised it, were very book and paper based. The items were displayed in rather dull display cases made slightly more exciting with red draped curtains at the top. The books were shown brief descriptions but with much more information in a handout. It was often hard to match the object to the leaflet as items weren’t numbers. The large section descriptions were not always next to the cabinet they referred to.

There were remarkable things including the earliest book on sleight of hand magic, a book on “Tricks for the Trenches and Wards” from the First World War, a handbill for Houdini and catalogues of magic tricks.

The most interesting section was on Harry Price, who had collected these items and investigated alleged psychical phenomena. I was fascinated in the hoaxes which he uncovered.

Closes 15 June 2019

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