Lupson, Henry Charles, Notebook of magic tricks and recipes, circa 1870
- Title(s):
Notebook of magic tricks and recipes.
- Published/Created:
- circa 1870.
- Physical Description:
- 1 v. ([116] p.) : ill. ; 19 cm.
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsAG105 .L87 1870Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon FundView by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Copyright Status:
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/8039625
- Classification:
- Archives & Manuscripts
- Notes:
- An 1869 Post Office directory lists Henry Charles Lupson as a hardware dealer at 10 Union Road, Cambridge.
Access to the item is open without restriction.
Bound in quarter dark green roan and marbled boards.
Manuscript notebook of magic tricks and recipes, kept by Henry Charles Lupson, of Cambridge, England. The notebook is in Lupson's hand throughout, in pen and brown ink. The compiler's name or initials appear at the end of many entries; his full name and address are recorded at front: Henry Charles Lupson, 10 Union Road, Cambridge. Lupson illustrates some of the entries with small diagrams, also drawn in pen and brown ink. Numerous clippings from a variety of newspapers, books, or magazines, containing similar types of practical advice and recipes, are pasted in at the beginning and end of the volume. One of these clippings is labeled in ms "The best Household receipt-book, by Mrs. S. Hale, sold by S. Nelson & Sons, Paternoster Row, London".
Instructions on magic are interspersed throughout the manuscript. The writer appears to have been an amateur magician, and some of the instructions for magic tricks may be based on actual performances. Along with several sections on general parlor magic, there are entries for specific named tricks, including the Goat trick, the Speaking head trick, the Peppers ghost trick, and "An easy illusion to show future husband & wife." There are closely related entries on optics and optical illusions, including "How to see through a brick" (with mirrors) and how to perform shadow pantomime. The author includes entries on how to make a thaumatrope, a phenakistoscope, and a simple camera obscura. There are three entries on the magic lantern, including eight pages on implements and materials used in the making of magic lantern slides.
The remaining entries offer household recipes. In the realm of medicine, there are cures for burns, sprains, chilblains, sore throats, chapped hands, and bloodshot eyes, along with directions on how to prevent the "nauseous taste of medicine." For arts and crafts, there are recipes for solders, cements, lacquers, varnishes, and whitewash, along with instructions on how to make paint brushes and papier-mâché. Also present are instructions on how to make blacking balls, waterproof dubbing for boots and shoes, furniture oil, candles, knots, beetle traps, kites, fishing rods, boomerangs, life belts, butterfly nets, storm glasses (for weather forecasting), leotards, dancing dolls, a variety of fireworks, and 10 pages (with diagrams) on how to make a small printing press. - Subject Terms:
- Fireworks -- Great Britain.Hand presses -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.Home economics -- Great Britain.Lantern projection.Lantern slides.Lupson, Henry Charles.Magic tricks -- Great Britain.Optical illusions -- Great Britain.Recipes -- Great Britain.Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Great Britain.Workshop recipes -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
- Form/Genre:
- Notebooks.
Medical formularies.
Clippings.
Diagrams. - Export:
- XML