August Roterberg

From MagicPedia

August Roterberg (1867 - September 23, 1928), born in Germany and emigrated to the United States around 1883 as a teenager, was a a magic dealer, inventor and started the modern age of magic publishing.

Roterberg started out selling magic by mail order before opening a magic store in the lobby of the "old" Palmer House Hotel in Chicago.

The books he started to publish were the first in the English language written expressly for magicians. Roterberg's books were published specifically for sale in magical depots, rather than for wide distribution to the general public. He ended up selling his mail order business in 1908 to Ralph W. Read and then his shop to Arthur & Carl Felsman in 1916. He eventually retired around 1917 and moved to California, where lived until his death.

Roterberg is also known as a magic inventor and is credited with inventing the Multiplying Billiard Balls. Although according to John Braun in The Linking Ring (Vol. 29, N° 6, August 1949, page 28,), George F. Wright who worked at Roterberg's store on Illinois Street in Chicago seems to have been the creator.