Magic box
A magic box is a container made of wood or cardboard that contains a number of magic tricks . There are also instructions printed on paper and / or DVD with the descriptions and explanations required to understand and demonstrate the props. Many wizards had their first encounters with magic through such magic boxes in the past centuries. In the meantime, magic boxes have also become a sought-after collector's item. The first public magic box museum has existed in Vienna since June 2010. At least since the publication of the periodical ABC of Magic Sets (1980-2004), the term magic set has increasingly established itself.
history
One of the oldest magic tricks is the cup game . It has been found in Asia and Europe for many centuries. Three small balls mysteriously wander back and forth under three cups. They penetrate the bottom of the cup or suddenly appear or disappear underneath. This game has lost none of its appeal over the centuries to the present day. In France, it was precisely this feat that coined the job title of magicians called Escamoteure, derived from the verb escamoter = [small balls] to appear and disappear.
Said cup game was part of the repertoire of most magicians. So it is not surprising that the cup game can be found again and again in the various magic boxes. The earliest written mention of a magic box can be found in a catalog from 1803. Georg Hieronimus Bestelmeier from Nuremberg offered 1111 different products from various art and other useful things in his magazine. A handheld apparatus is listed under no. 739 . The magicians of that time kept their utensils in bags that they carried around their shoulders or hips and played out of the bag in the truest sense of the word. So they were rightly called pocket players . The word apparatus is also understood here in the old, originally Latin sense: apparatus = equipment, well equipped, splendidly equipped. The term handheld device was retained for many years. Around the last third of the 19th century, the term magic box appears, which is still used today, although it is hardly a question of "boxes" anymore.
The magic boxes helped make the art of deception even more popular at the beginning of the 19th century. The first magic book The Discoverie of Witchcraft appeared as early as 1584, but it was only with the magic boxes that the devices could be bought en bloc. The target group were primarily children. As is often the case in the toy world, this was used to imitate the actions of adults (magicians). An early example of this is the toy box of Goethe's grandchildren listed in the catalog of the Kippenberg Collection, Volume 1, Insel-Verlag Leipzig, 1928.
The Goethe magic box
»TOY BOX of Goethe's grandchildren, consisting of 17 objects [2 Polichinels, 1 magical Quodlibet, 1 magic square, 1 domino, 1 assembly game, etc. a. m.]. Enclosed 25 pieces of paper with handwritten information about magic tricks. Everything in a wooden box covered in blue «
» It is known that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe liked to see the sleight of hand of his grandchildren as "a wonderful means of practicing free speech and achieving some physical and mental dexterity" and encouraged them with gifts. So on November 2, 1830, he asked Marianne von Willemer to get a box, "in which some devices for the hand-held arts are together with instructions for use", "as it could be enough for a beginner, a boy of 12 years". On December 19, he thanked "for the quick and agreeable procurement" and at the same time sent the amount for the pocket player, the 8ft. 30kr. cost and is available here. “
The box is now in the Goethe Museum in Düsseldorf and is happy to show interested visitors. In addition to the utensils mentioned in the quote above, it also contains a pair of wooden ball vases in the manner of the egg vase mentioned above, as well as a metal coin tray, the invisible ambassador, the six-box trick made of metal, a special card game with a box and the Millet bell with the accompanying barrel.
General
To date, not much has changed in the target group. Children are still mainly addressed, although those children - four to eight year olds - who most intensely want to be able to do magic are often disappointed with a magic box. It is difficult for them to understand that they cannot do magic with it themselves, but rather have to create the illusion in their audience that they can do magic. Apart from that, most children at this age are still ignorant of reading. Reading is, however, a basic requirement in order to properly study the magic tricks.
There are no kids' tricks
Even if magic boxes are included in the toy market and the presentation is designed in a child-like manner, there are still no children's tricks. The effects are just as amazing for an adult as for a child, because something either appears or disappears or it does not. If the effect is clear, then it is equally evident for a child and for an adult.
swell
- Wittus Witt: magical world of pocket players. Exhibition guide to the exhibition of the same name in the Städtische Galerie im Park Viersen , May 6-27, 1984.
- Wittus Witt: magic boxes. Hugendubel Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-88034-338-1 .
- Wittus Witt: magical world of pocket players. Exhibition guide to the exhibition of the same name at Museum Burg Linn, March 16 to June 15, 1997.
- Magical moments. Exhibition guide to the exhibition of the same name in the Nuremberg Toy Museum , November 16, 2011 to February 19, 2012.
Web links
credentials
- ↑ Magic Box Museum
- ↑ Georg Hieronimus Bestelmeier: Magazine of various art and other useful things. Reprint of the edition from 1803. Edition Olms AG, Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-283-00012-3 .
- ↑ cf. Eckermann: Conversations with Goethe. ed. Houben, p. 600f.