Almost a century in the making, appearing for the first time in book form... Kurt Volkmann's A History of the Art of Conjuring is here.
Kurt Volkmann's complete "Geschichte der Zauberkunst" series has been fully translated into English by Lori Pieper and Maxwell Pritchard. Volkmann's articles on magic history are considered by Steffen Taut to be "the best overall investigation on the history of conjuring." In translating Volkmann's work, Lori Pieper brought her extensive linguistic knowledge to the project, drawing from over a dozen languages.
The first volume of Kurt Volkmann's peerless History of the Art of Conjuring offers an in-depth examination of performance magic through the ages, from antiquity and the earliest sources documenting magical performers to modern times and Europe's most accomplished stage conjurers. Kurt Volkmann's rich prose guides readers through a wealth of manuscripts, books, newspapers and artwork in over a dozen languages to present an insightful exploration of what magic has meant to magicians and their audiences over the centuries.
In Volume Two, Volkmann focuses his keen analytical skills on individual countries and the texts and performers associated with them. Familiar names and stories from across Europe and beyond are viewed afresh, while the repertoires and motivations of lesser-known practitioners are teased out and discussed at length.
Both volumes feature 1,260 pages with 432 beautiful color illustrations throughout, all fully credited, and comprehensive annotated endnotes. Volume Two includes eleven appendices presenting new findings about the sources and magicians Volkmann discusses, as well as a vast Bibliography and an exhaustive Index. Printed on archival paper, with foil-stamped cloth binding and sewn signatures, and housed in a luxury slipcase. This is a magic-history book like no other.
Strictly limited to 1,000 numbered sets.
A History of the Art of Conjuring
Kurt Volkmann
Translated by Lori Pieper and Maxwell Pritchard
Edited by Maxwell Pritchard
Volume One:
"Kurt Volkmann: Solicitor, Soldier, Scholar"
- Richard Hatch
Foreword-Edwin A. Dawes
A Note on This Edition-Maxwell Pritchard
Kurt Volkmann's History of the Art of Conjuring
Introduction-The Natural Art of Conjuring and Supernatural Magic
Chapter One-Antiquity
Chapter Two-The Middle Ages
Chapter Three-The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Chapter Four-The Eighteenth Century
Chapter Five-The Romantic Era
Chapter Six-Developers and Developments (analyses of Bosco, Döbler, Philippe, Robert-Houdin, Hofzinser, Anderson, Herrmann, Frikell, Heimbürger, Bellachini, Maskelyne and Buatier)
Endnotes
Illustration Credits
Volume Two:
Chapter Seven-Imitators and Innovators (a detailed study of the development of performance magic and its practitioners in France, England, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Greece, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Poland, Romania and Persia)
Endnotes
Appendices
Illustration Credits
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements