1885 First Edition - CONJURER Dick or, The Adventures of a Young WIZARD by Professor Hoffmann.

 

(Description)

Author: Professor Hoffmann. (Angelo Lewis).
Title: CONJURER Dick or, The Adventures of a Young WIZARD.
Publisher: London and New York, Frederick Warne and Co. no date (1885). First Edition. This is the true first edition without Angelo Lewis's name on the title page and front cover. Angelo Lewis's name was added to the later edition on the title page and front cover.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5" X 6".
Pages: viii-256 pages + publisher's catalog,
Binding: Attractive and very good original illustrated full-cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, some light foxing to preliminary and last pages- as shown).
Illustrations: Complete with the nice frontispiece illustration.

Estimate: (USD 400 - USD 500)

The book: Scarce and attractive First edition of Conjuror Dick; or, The adventures of a young wizard -- a fictional book by Angelo John Lewis (Professor Hoffmann) published in 1885. It tells the fictional life story of a boy magician name Dick Hazard and his travels and adventures, in the company of a professional exhibitor as his assistant. The story includes the workings of the "Egg Bag," "Coin Box," "Production of Sweets," Die Through Hat," "Dancing Sailor," "Torn-and-Restored Card," "Second Sight," "Miser's Dream," and the "Inexhaustible Bottle".

The author: Professor Louis Hoffmann (July 23, 1839 - December 23, 1919), born Angelo John Lewis in England, was a lawyer, professor and the leading writer on magic, and on the games, amusements and puzzles of his time. Professor Hoffmann wrote a series of articles on magic for a boy's magazine (Every Boy's Annual) that was later expanded into his classic book on magic, Modern Magic, first published in 1876. He used the pen name, Professor Hoffman, because he feared that his professional prospects as a lawyer would be injured if it became known that he possessed such an intimate knowledge of the arts of deception.