Edited by Stephen Minch

Winter 2008
Vol. 3, No. 1

Our latest issue (being mailed to members now March 20) includes the fascinating third installment of Mitsunobu Matsuyama's "An Investigation into Magic in Japan after the Opening of the Country."  This time he is solving the mystery of Soto Sunetaro's arrival in the U.S.A. and discussing the role that Soto played in the history of de Kolta's "Expanding Die" illusion. 

Dr. William Spooner has contributed a history of the ideomechanic pendulum commonly known as the "Sex Detector."

Volker Huber returns to provide a solution to the source of German artist Max Beckmann's puzzling lithograph, "Magic Mirror." 

We have also included the first English translation of Satana raccolta Europea: passatempo dell'intermezzo nelle sedute: di magia egiziana: del cavaliere Bartolomeo Bosco, a rare and early biography of the renowned sleight-of-hand performer Bartolomeo Bosco. And we are very excited that this new translation includes an introduction by Ricky Jay.

If you haven’t yet joined this would be the perfect time to do so. We have printed a limited quantity and don’t intend to ever reprint. Join now or perhaps miss your chance to own and read this look into our history.