Magic Coloring Book

The magic coloring book, based on what used to be called a blow book, is a classic magic trick that has been performed for hundreds of years. It was most popular from the 16th to the 19th century, when variations of the concept were a staple of the book publishing trade. It has been referred to as the oldest example of a manufactured prop used for magic. It remains a common trick today, although mostly performed for children.

The effect is a book that as it is being flipped through, first show pages as all blank, then with black and white pictures, and finally all in full color.

The most popular design by Royal Magic contains a magician in front of a red curtain stage on the cover.

History

The principle is based on what used to be called "flip books", "flick books" or "blow books". In demonstrations at annual fairs, the public paid to blow into the book and the showman would reveal to them their inner thoughts. This led to the term "blow books". It was described in The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) and as early as 1550 by Geronimo Cardano (1501–76), an Italian physician and mathematician, writing in his "De Subtilitate".

Variations

• Magic Stamp Album by John Brearley (1926)

References

This page incorporated content from Blow book, a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License