William Ellis Stanyon (January 1870 – September 1951) was a professional

magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

and magic dealer in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

Stanyon published and edited his own journal known as ''Magic''.Evans, Henry R. (1902)
''Magic And Its Professors''
George Routledge & Sons. p. 88 The journal's aim was to‚ 'popularize the Art of

Sleight of Hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...

'. It was first published from October 1900 and ran for 177 issues with a break during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; the final issue was published in June 1920. Stanyon in his journal published a method of escaping from packed boxes. Biographer

Kenneth Silverman Kenneth Eugene Silverman (February 5, 1936 – July 7, 2017) was an American biographer and educator. He won a Pulitzer Prize and a Bancroft Prize for his 1984 biography of Cotton Mather, ''The Life and Times of Cotton Mather''. Silverman, who spe ...

has written that the magician

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

"accused Stanyon of having posted a bounty of several pounds for his secrets... Houdini dismissed the methods purveyed by Stanyon and others as being nothing like his own, "puny attempts at duplication."Silverman, Kenneth. (1996). ''Houdini!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss''. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 65-66 Magic historian

Henry R. Evans Henry Ridgely Evans (1861–1949) was an American amateur magician and magic historian.Pritchard, William Thomas. (1958). ''This is Magic: Secrets of the Conjurer's Craft''. Citadel Press. p. 112 Biography Evans worked in Baltimore, Maryland as ...

wrote that Stanyon was "one of the most prolific writers on legerdemain in the world, and his hand-books on magic are largely sought after."

Published works

*''Conjuring With Cards'' (1898) *''Hand Shadows'' (1900) *''New Miscellaneous Tricks'' (1900) *''New Coin Tricks'' (1900) *''New Juggling Tricks'' (1901)
''Card Tricks''
(1900) *''New Card Tricks'' (1900)
''Conjuring For Amateurs''
(1901) *''New Handkerchief Tricks'' (1909)
''Magic''
(1910)

References

External links

* *
Ellis Stanyon MAGIC bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanyon, Ellis 1870 births 1951 deaths British magicians Card magic Coin magic Harry Houdini Historians of magic People from Harborough District Sleight of hand

History

Published works

See also

References

External links