Friends, the time has come to speak of magic.

And I'm not merely speaking of the magic of our existence, the magic of love, or the

magic of a perfectly made sandwich.

No, I'm talking about magic as an art form, the craft of professional magicians.

This is different from the magic allegedly possessed by shamans, priests, prophets, oracles,

and other religious figures from throughout history.

That kind of magic is prehistoric.

Now, what we're talking about here is magic as entertainment, magic as performance art.

While maybe not quite as old as the magic of the shamans, this type of magic does

have an impressively ancient pedigree.

There are Egyptian hieroglyphs dating from the reign of Kufu, the Pharaoh to whom the

great pyramid of Giza is dedicated, that seem to show a magic show being enjoyed by the

Pharaoh and his sons.

The point is that magical performance seems to be as ancient as theater itself.

This means that starting a story about the history of magic presents some difficulties.

Where to begin?

Well, perhaps a good place to start is with a man who's been called the father of modern

stage magic.

Jean-Yu-jean-Rôbeur-Hudet.

This French conjurer has been credited with making magic respectable in the 19th century.

In fact, if you do a quick search for Houdin's name, you might even read that he was the

magician who popularized wearing a formal coat with tails and a top hat on stage.

...