Yellow Perils

Yellow Perils is the term coin by Patrick Playfair used to describe the bright yellow pictorial covered books produced by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. from London in the early 1900s. Most of them were books on magic and other allied arts. Although Pearson had no real interest in magic, just selling books. The covers of most were bright and clean, the spines however were more often than not ragged, crumbling or just plain missing.

These books were originally very inexpensive at only one shilling or two shillings a peice. There was debate among magicians at the time if these books offered for sale primarily to the public were considered exposure. Professional magicians starting referring to them as "the yellow perils" because their secrets were being made available so cheaply.

These books now are highly sought after by some collectors.

Titles

• The Drawing Room Entertainer by Cecil H. Bullivant (1903)
• Magic Made Easy by David Devant (1903)
• After-Dinner Sleights and Pocket Tricks by C. Lang Neil (1904)
• Modern Card Manipulation by C. Lang Neil (1904)
• Tricks for Everyone by David Devant (1910)
• Simple Conjuring Tricks by Will Goldston (1913)
• Conjuring with Coins by T. Nelson Downs (1916)
• Handkerchief Magic by Will Blyth (1922)
• Original Magic for All by Bert Douglas (1927)
• Broadcast Conjuring Tricks by Cyril Shields (1930)
• The Best Tricks and How to Do Them by David Devant (1931) (although in Red, not Yellow)

References

• Leat's Leaflets No. 2
• James Findlay "yellow perils" article for Magicol #29.
• Yellow Perils by Raymond Ricard in Perennial Mystics No. 16 (2001)