Tricks Collection

Peppers Ghost Illusion
The Peppers Ghost illusion

Cardini - Magician (Richard Valentine Pitchford) (1895-1973). Born and raised in Britain (and having served in the British Army in WW1), he worked chiefly in the United States of America

Suffragettes Pankhurst and Gawthorpe Rutland 1907
Christabel Pankhurst and Mary Gawthorpe in the Market Place, Uppingham, holding a meeting during the 1907 Rutland bye-election

Tricks on Skateboard
A young man performs a handstand trick on his skateboard Date: 1970s

Tower Circus / Blackpool
Two girls perform tricks while riding a white horse. A clown holds a hoop with a paper surface which one of them has just leapt through

A Bonzo juggling act
Bonzo, the cute canine created by artist George Studdy in The Sketch magazine during the 1920s, performs a marvellous trick by balancing a plate, cutlery

Magician performing the cup and balls trick
Undated illustration, coloured, of a magician performing the cup and balls trick to a gathered audience, entitled " Tableaux de Paris: L Escamoteur, sur le boulevard

The Diving Belles music hall divers and aquatic acrobats
The Diving Belles led by Daphne ?appearing in an elaborate sea cave scena Mermaids in Shells with clever and original tricks and fancy diving?

Herr Seeth and his performing animals, London Hippodrome
Herr Julius Seeth, lion tamer, in the arena at the London Hippodrome with two of his lions forming behind him with ponies and dogs. Date: 1903

Magician Carl Devo
Undated colour illustrated poster for magician Carl Devo, featuring full length illustration of Devo surrounded by magical objects, printed by Weiners Limited, London. HPF/5B/5

Penny Farthing Trick Cyclists at the Circus, c. 1888
Engraving showing two acrobats performing tricks on a Penny Farthing bicycle during a circus show, c.1888

Herr Graiss looping monkey, Diavolino
Diavolino, a little monkey trained by Herr Grais, who performed the loop the loop on a tricycle at the London Hippodrome. Date: 1903

French Street Conjuror
A French street magician with his trestle table set up ready to perform the cup and ball trick and con some punters out of their money Date: circa 1805

Isaac Fawkes, the Slight of Hand Ma
Undated hand coloured engraving of Isaac Fawkes, the " Slight of Hand Man", and enlargement of acrobats from Bartholomew Fair print. HPG/8/2/1 (xli)"

HARRY KELLAR 1849 - 1922
American magician who presented large stage shows during the late 1800s and early 1900s - the predecessor of Harry Houdini and successor to Robert Heller

Dog Trials
Canines being put through their paces at dog trials held at Crystal Palace. Date: 1931

High Diving Horse
William Doc Carver (1851-1927) had been mounting a diving horse show since 1894. The rider in this picture is probably his daughter Lorena. Date: circa 1925

Minnie Thompson, Dallas cowgirl in New York
Minnie Thompson from Dallas, Texas, performs horse riding feats outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New York. She had won many prizes as a trainer of unbroken horses. Date: 1910

Shadow Show - Silhouette Cut-Outs 1881
A fold-out page from The Boy's Own Paper for a shadow show stand with various silhouettes surrounding, to be cut-out, to entertain children for Christmas. Date: 1881

Ethel Beenham, Harry Price's secretary, demonstrates how a skilful medium can perform any number of psychic phenomena even though her hands and feet are tied. Date: 1930s ?

Programme cover for the London Hippodrome revue, Box o Tricks, produced by Albert de Courville, his eighth hit revue at the theatre. Date: 1918

The Flying Reos, Have a Bouquet? Date: 1922

The Three Meers, Permanent Address: 14 Leicester Street, London - new tricks for 1910, a surprise for 1911, up to date ideas for 1912, and some more for 1913. Date: 1910

Regency gentleman on a horse caught on a sty during a fox hunt with hounds. How to Do Things by Halves. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Thomas Rowlandson after an illustration by Henry Bunbury

A lustful monk Lucius tricks and seduces a young girl
A lustful monk Lucius tricks and seduces a young virginal peasant girl in his cave. The hermit. L Ermite. Lithograph after an illustration by Charles Martin from Jean de la Fontaines Contes et

Cartoon, The Celebrated Indian Crown Trick (Disraeli)
Cartoon, The Celebrated Indian Crown Trick -- a satirical depiction of Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative Prime Minister, as Bendizzi the Great Faker, performing as a magician to various heads of state

Chung Ling Soo at the London Hippodrome
Chung Ling Soo, Chinese conjuror (real name Billy Robinson) in publicity photographs for his act at the London Hippodrome in 1904. Date: 1904

Flying the Flume at Crystal Palace 1904
French Mademoiselle Dutrien (le fleche humaine), the human arrow, performing at Crystal Palace, London. After riding down a curving track on her bicycle which falls some seventy feet

Captain Woodwards seals at the London Hippodrome
Two of Captain Woodwards performing seals at the London Hippodrome demonstrating their balancing skills. Date: 1903

Captain Woodward & his seals at the London Hippodrome
Captain Woodward (called Dr. Woodward here), with his troupe of trained seals, seen shaking hands/flippers with one of them at the time they were delighting audiences at the London Hippodrome

Behind the scenes in a film studio 1924
Various trick techniques used to achieve certain effects in a film studio, sketched by D. Macpherson in The Sphere. Among the tricks used are a side of a house painted on a floor to give the illusion

Seeing multiples / Photography trick
Photographers became more experimental with the portraits they could photograph. In this example the same man appears multiple time within the same frame. Date: 1902

Instructions for the game of diablo or Chinese yo-yo, showing various tricks and techniques, early 19th century. Lithograph from Henry Rene Allemagnes Sports and Games of Skill

George Dyball, a blind beggar in a sailor s
George Dyball, a blind beggar who dressed in a sailors uniform, and his dog Nelson with begging bowl. Another blind begging couple behind him

Decorative plate from Saint-Amand, Normandy, France, 18th century. A man teaching a dog to perform tricks. Hand-finished chromolithograph from Ris Paquots General History of Ancient French

Munito the wonder dog performing card tricks, 1815
Munito the wonder dog performing card tricks for a fashionable audience, 1815. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Street performer drumming with a violinist
Drummer performing tricks with drumsticks while beating a drum, accompanied by a violinist. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Indian sword swallower in Paris, 1816. An assistant holds a sword to show its length (18 inches), and another takes something from a box of tricks

New Amphitheatre in Holborn, London 1867
Interior of the new Royal Amphitheatre in Holborn, London, built on the site of the old Metropolitan House Bazaar. With entertainment shows including equestrian and gymnastics Date: 1867

A man who never stops to attract a crowd in the streets of London, with his little table on which he feasts upon small objects. Swallowing pebbles, nails, broken glass and similar delicacies

Exhibition of trained animals
Manifested in England from a very early period, for manuscripts of twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries contain numerous representations of dogs, horses, pigs, goats cocks, bears

Street Conjurer performing 1850s
Conjurers performing in front of passersby in the streets of London. Date: circa 1850s

DODGY RESTAURANT COOK
Tricks of the food trade: one cook explains to another how to cheat customers by lying about the weight of mutton legs. Date: 1834

Indian Mango Tree Trick Date: 1888

Horseback dancer at a circus
Horseback dancer dressed as a ballerina performs in the ring with some clowns and a beautiful white horse, all under the direction of the ringmaster. Date: 1890s

Box o Tricks! Empire Theatre, Nottingham
Box o Tricks! by Albert de Courville, at the Empire Theatre, Nottingham, previously at the London Hippodrome

Black dog leaps into sea, Menorca
A large black dog leaps into the water off the quayside at Alacufar, Menorca, Spain Date: 2000

Dreamland with Chevalier Ernest Thorn (22nd September 1853 -21st May 1928) was a touring magician and inventor from Austria

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