talkmagic.co.uk

I'm typing up a rough draft as we speak, It's on the history of magic speech I'm giving tonight. It was sprung upon me and I need to have it finished in four hours. I just have two questions: 1. What is (or what do you think is) the oldest known card trick? 2. Who made linking rings famous for magicians? Thanks.

If you ignore tarot and the like.

Cards I believe are generally accepted as a Chinese invention coming to Europe through the trade routes. Vaguely remember a bit on card tricks coming up in 1400s onwards in Europe from when I did a bit on history of witchcraft, however those sort of books are in storage so can't check for certain.

Reginald Scott on witchcraft would be the place to check for details of 1600's. Can't remember if card tricks are mentioned but its available online in a number of places. After that Giuseppe Merci in 1700s you can probably find a bit of info on. After that you should be able to find a good amount as it gets into the golden era.

Anyway be interested to read whatever you come up with. I have a magic quiz on Thursday so could do with some religion.

How did it go?

It went O.K. I thought I could've been better, but everyone else who I talked to afterwards liked it so I'm just criticizing myself. I covered the history of cups and balls, linking rings, and Russian Roulette.