Frost, Thomas: The Lives of the Conjurors ©1876 Tinsley Brothers, London Hardcover, 375 pages

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Contents:

v Preface (T. Frost, 1875)

1 Chapter 1
1 Beginnings of the Black Art
Who the First Conjurors Were
Apparitions of the Pagan Deities
Religious Mysteries of the Ancient World
How the Phantasms Were Produced
Ancient Magic Mirrors
Corruption and Abolition of the Mysteries

18 Chapter II
The Secular Practice of Magic Among the Ancients
Zoraster and the Magi
Wondrous Stories of the Greek Magicians
Separation of the Sould From the Body
Simon Magus
An Ancient Fire-King
Animated Statues
Transformation
The Flower Trick Known to the Ancients
The Magic Sickle
Elymas, the Sorcerer
Apollonius of Tyana
The Oracle of Abonotics

31 Chapter III
Merlin, The Enchanter
The Veiled Prophet of Khorasan
Optical Illusion Shown by Santabaren
Brazen Head of Silvester II
Lightning Produced by Gregory VII
The Brazen Head of Bishop Greathead
Michael Scot
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
Story of the Brazen Head
Competition With Vandermast, the German Conjuror
Persecution of Bacon by the Pope
Albert Groot
Raymond Lully
Zeito, the Bohemian Conjuror

61 Chapter IV
Cornelius Agrippa
Phantoms Shown in His Magic Mirror
Faust
Legends Concerning Him
More Phantoms
The Decapitation Trick at Frankfort
The Enchanted Palace and the Fairy Garden
Sabellicus
Magic at Rome
Conjurations of a Sicilian Priest
The Devils in the Coliseum

82 Chapter V
Persecution of Conjurers
John Dee
Visions in the Magic Mirror
Invocation of a Corpse
Attack on Dee's House by a Mob
Brandon the Juggler
Jannes and Jambres
Conjuring Tricks of the Sixteenth Century
The Decapitation Trick
Jean Cantares
A Samoied Conjuror
Indian Conjurors at the Court of Jehangire
Dr. Lamb
The Magic Tree
Invention of the Magic Lantern
English Conjurors of the Seventeenth Century

111 Chapter VI
A New Era in Conjuring
Neve and His Book
Story of an Indian Fakeer
Fawkes and Pinchbeck
The Younger Yeates
The Recreations of Comus
Jonas
A Conjuror's Challenge
The Pigeon Trick
Small Fry of the Profession
Boaz
Cosmopolita
Ray
George III and the Conjuror
Social Position of Conjurors in the Last Century

127 Chapter VII
Conjuring Entertainments in the Last Century
Breslaw
The Conjuror and the Mayor
Breslaw's Last Legacy
Flockton
Conjurors At the Fairs
Lane
Robinson
Katterfelto
His Black Cat and its Vanishing Tail
Pinetti and His Book
Clairvoyance Ninety Years Ago
The Conjuror of the Royal Circus
Decremps
Astley as a Conjuror
Invention of the Gun Trick
The Automaton Chess Player

152 Chapter VIII
Successors of Pinetti
Henry
Connus
The Vanishing Lady
Melville
Cagliostro
Rollin
A Conjuror on the Scaffold
Comus the Second
Coinage of Hard Words
Another Clairvoyant Conjuror
Improvement of the Magic Lantern
Robert's Optical Illusions
Raising the Dead
Philipstal's Phantasmagoria
Moritz
Bologna
Moon
Elliston and the Conjuror
A Conjuror's Law Suit

174 Chapter IX
Successors of Moritz
Val
Ingleby
Decapitation and Reanimation of a Fowl
Boiling a Fowl and Restoring it to Life
The Count de Grisy
The Conjuror and the Cardinal
A Page Sawn in Halves
A Fatal Mistake
Cucchiani
The Speaking Head
The Invisible Girl
Gyngell the Showman
The Gun Trick Again
Fatal Accident to an Indian Juggler
De Linsky
A Terrible Catastrophe

196 Chapter X
A New Series of Conjurors
Chalon
Transformation of a Bird into a Young Lady
Carnillot
Comte the Ventriloquist
Louis XVIII and the Conjuror
Girardelli
A Novel Nomenclature
The Two Blitzes
Sullivan
Ball
Hoare
Ingleby Lunar
Conjurors at the Faire
Keys and Laine
Frazer
Capelli
De Berar's Phantasmagoria
Conjurors in India
Suspension in the Air
The Basket Trick
The Enchanted Water Jar
Magical Transformations

214 Chapter XI
A New Era in the History of Conjuring Entertainments
Jacobs the Ventriloquist and Improvisatore
The Chinese Ring Trick
An Incident of a Tripe Supper
Ink Turned into Water Containing Gold Fish
The Inexhaustible Bottle
The Vanishing Page
Suspension by Ether
Imitators of Jacobs
Ching Lau Lauro
Testot
Sutton
The Speaking Automaton
A Young Lady Found in a Pie
Law
Buck
Miller

228 Chapter XII
John Henry Anderson
His Early Wanderings and Adventures
A Conjuror's Perils Among the Ignorant
The Wizard's Umbrella
Anderson in a Scrape
Unfortunate Speculation at Glasgow
Burning of the Theatre
An Adventure in St. Petersburg
Second Sight
An Imperial Wizard
A Conjurer's Devices
Exposure of the Spirit-Rappers
The Mask Ball at Covent Garden
Another Conflagration

261 Chapter XIII
Imitators of Anderson
Wizards from All Quarters
Young
De Saurin
Cunningham
Doward
Pennington
Foreign Conjurors In England
Mooty Moodaya
Oriental Conjuring
Louis Dobler
Instantaneous Illumination of Two Hundred Candles
The Transfixed Card
The Magician's Kitchen
Philippe Talon
The Gold-Fish Trick
Hermann

277 Chapter XIV
Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin
Amateur Conjurors and Continental Mountebanks
Carlosbach
Castelli
Robert's Connection With Torrini
The Pancake Trick
Exhibition of the Automaton Penman
Second Sight
Engagement at Brussels
AN Unrehearsed Trick on the Frontier
A Card Trick at St. Cloud
A Royal Duchess Puzzled
Suspension by Ether
Engagement in London
Transformation of the Queen's Glove
The Conjuror Among the Arabs
The Gun Trick
How to Draw Blood from a Stone

294 Chapter XV
Optical Illusions
Robin's Ghosts and Phantom Flight
Automaton Calculator
Wiljalba Frikell
Wanderings In Three Quarters of the Globe
Conjuring Without Apparatus
Orginski Rosenfeld
De Linski
Chinese Conjurors
Bosco
A Conjuror with a Dozen Languages
The Vanishing Card
Malcolm
Behind the Scenes With a Wizard
Inglis
Hambujer

305 Chapter XVI
Wellington Young
Professor Logrenia
The Table Rappers and Clairvoyants
Louisa Miller
Professor Sinclair
The Blooming Orange Tree
Optical Illusions at the Polytechnic
Silvester's Ghost
The Ghost at the Music-Halls
Revival of Medieval Magic
The Skeleton in the Cabinet
The Vanishing Man and the Speaking Head
Alfred Stodare
The Sphinx
The Mysterious Hand
The Shade of Socrates
Another Automaton Chess Player

327 Chapter XVII
Signor Rubini
The Indian Basket Trick
Beheading a Lady
The Fakeer of Oulu
A Lady Floating in Air
Professor Beaumont
Doings of the Spiritualists
Miss Katie King
Her Confession of Imposture
Mr. Maskelyne
His Exposure of the Brothers Davenport
Anti-Spiritualistic Seances at the Egyptian Hall
The Automaton Whist-Player
Dr. Lynn
The Corded Box Trick
Palingenesia
Professor De Vere

370 Index