HOFFMANN, Professor (Angelo Lewis, 1839–1919). MODERN MAGIC. A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE ART OF CONJURING. London: George Routledge and Sons, [1876]. FIRST EDITION, with publisher’s seal to title page. Bright blue cloth elaborately stamped in gilt and black, with black hat and gold cone to front board. Engraved frontispiece of The Sphinx illusion, profusion of illustrations. Thick 8vo. Rubbing to joints, corners, and spine, lacks tissue guard, foxed. Bright and attractive; good to very good condition. Toole Stott 386.
Hoffmann’s work was intentionally and unintentionally modern; in the former case, the work was a catalog of many contemporary tricks popularized at or before the time of publication. In the latter, the book became a de facto line of demarcation, as it set a new tone and style for books explaining the secrets of conjurers. So popular was Hoffmann’s book that it has remained in print nearly without fail in all the years since its first appearance, and it created an entirely new career for its author, who all but abandoned his law practice to become a popular author of books on conjuring, home recreations, and other subjects. Only 1000 examples of this, the true first edition, were published.