The Golden Age Of Magic Posters

In 2015 the McCord Museum in Montreal, Canada, was gifted with the Allan Slaight Collection, one of the largest treasuries of posters and documents on magic in the world. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Illusions. The Art of Magic at the McCord Museum, this volume presents 250 exceptional posters from this collection, dating from the 1880s to the 1940s. During this period, known as the Golden Age of Magic, droves of traveling magicians and prestidigitators fought a veritable advertising war. All over the United States and Europe, city walls and billboards were plastered with posters offering tantalizing previews of their most spectacular tricks, giving poster designers and printers of the era a golden opportunity to flex their imaginations and load their work with devils and demons, skeletons and skulls, bodies and decapitated heads, playing-cards and rabbits, alluring assistants, phantasmagoria and esoteric symbols. Seven authors recognized as experts in their respective fields introduce this dazzling array of color and fantastic imagery, providing insights to explain the full historic, social and artistic value of these magnificent posters.

For many years Magicians have impressed, dazzled, confused and even frightened us with their amazing talent. Not only were they masters of illusion but they also had to become masters of marketing to make it big. Posters, flyers and panels were the way back then to get magic shows advertised and get the public excited. During the Golden Age of Magic, there were tons of great magicians fighting to have their name in lights. In this collection, you will get to view Magicians like Houdini, Kellar, Thurston, Herrmann and many more. There are 31 different Magicians and 100 different Advertisements inside this book. All posters, panels, and ads are vibrant, unique and fun to look at. While the "Golden Age of Magic" is from 1880-1930, there are a couple posters that have been either a little before or a little after those dates, but we tried to keep it very close to that timeline. Each poster page will show the date it was published.

Auction catalog of the private collection of magic posters of Norm and Lupe Nielsen.

Charles Carter, dubbed Carter the Great by Houdini himself, was born into privilege but became a magician out of need: only when dazzling an audience can he defeat his fear of loneliness. But in 1920s America the stakes are growing higher, as technology and the cinema challenge the allure of magic and Carter's stunts become increasingly audacious. Until the night President Harding takes part in Carter's act only to die two hours later, and Carter finds himself pursued not only by the Secret Service but by a host of others desperate for the terrible secret they believe Harding confided in him. Seamlessly blending reality and fiction, Gold lays before us a glittering and romantic panorama of our modern world at a point of irrevocable change.

In Italy in 1491, Mangus the magician and his apprentice are summoned to the castle of Duke Claudio to determine if his daughter is indeed being haunted by a ghost.

Paul is obsessed with magic. Ever since he was given a magic set at the age of ten, he has been buying magic books, props and posters and honing his skills as a magician. He keeps all his magical paraphernalia in his house in Hackney, right around the corner from the magnificent Hackney Empire, a venue played at by all the great illusionists of the golden era of magic, some hundred years ago. One day, Paul is on the phone to his friend, sitting in his 'Poster Room', and chatting about how well his magic show from the night before went, when he gets a strange sensation . . . Suddenly, the huge figure of Alexander steps out of the poster and starts telling Paul off for getting too big for his boots! Alexander and the other brilliant magicians in the posters are going to show Paul what magic is really about!