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Issue 11 | 21st September 2025 |
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The Art of Magic
By Joshua Jay |
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We just published The Art of Magic by Ken Trombly, a book that celebrates the art of magic through its posters and prints. You may be thinking, “Didn’t Taschen publish a book about magic posters a few years ago?” Yes, they did.
However, whereas the Taschen book was a celebration of all sorts of magical imagery, The Art of Magic contains rare posters, prints, and artwork that have never been published before. You can only see some of these images in these pages because Ken owns many pieces unique to his collection.
Every page of the book tells the story of a quirky performer, an unusual act or the circuitous route the object took to enter Ken’s collection. This book is a love letter to magic collecting from, perhaps, the greatest collector of magic ephemera. Here’s a sneak peek at five of our favorite pieces from The Art of Magic. 1. Our favorite character in the book is Carlincourt. His real name was Thaddeus Lowe, and in addition to being a magician, he was also an inventor. But he was perhaps most famous as a pioneer in the use of hot air balloons. He was recruited by President Lincoln to spy on rebel troops during the Civil War while floating in his balloon. |
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2. Ionia is having a moment, thanks to recent scholarship and a fabulous recent biography by Charles Greene. This three-sheet is exceedingly rare, and is a great testament to this (until recently) unsung magician. |
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3. We’re biased, of course, but Ken includes this picture of the great Okito meeting Al Cohen in Al’s Magic Shop. As magic shop owners ourselves, we have a sweet spot for the great shops of the past, and Al was, for many years, the world’s greatest magic dealer. |
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4. Moore the Magician. This stunning poster is one we had never seen before, and it’s also one of Ken’s personal favorites. We love the image of the sphinx behind the performer. But we also love the petty self-importance of the promoter, Charles Rosskam. He not only saw fit to print his name above the performer’s, but he even included his picture in the work. That takes…guts. |
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5. Alexander Hoenig (Berlin) isn’t a particularly well-known performer, but we just love the stark simplicity of this poster. It depicts him boldly performing manipulation, and then, in a stylish way, there are other hands in view doing equally deft manipulations. |
These aren’t the most stunning images in the book—there are a near-endless parade of beautiful lithographs. But the revelation for us with this project is how many unsung, fascinating performers we learned about.
Sincerely, Joshua Jay
Ps. I just started a run of my new show, Making Magic, at Chicago's Rhapsody Theater, where I'll be performing until October 4th. It's one of my favorite venues, and I'm incredibly excited about this new show. A month later, Andi will be there performing Shuffled. You can find tickets for both our shows here. |
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