Magicians, especially professional magicians, tend to guard their secrets jealously. It is rare indeed to find a performer who would reveal the secrets of their art to the uninitiated or to colleagues. Very few of these individuals would indeed reveal the magic tricks they have developed on their own for love or money.
Nowadays books, videos, leaflets and other items available at bookstores and on the internet (even whole websites devoted to magic) have gone a long way towards explaining simple magic tricks. Amateur magic enthusiasts can even find the occasional magic convention to show them how to perform some of the more complicated magic tricks. All these things however are recent developments.
Right up till the end of the 19th century there were very few books or teachers of magic. Outsiders wishing to ‘break into’ the art
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