This little book combines legerdemain, scientific curiosities, feats of strength and accounts of unexplained phenomena. Although this book is very rare, books combining these subjects as amusements for readers were common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, popularising both magic and experiments in chemistry and physics. The section on legerdemain closely follows the contents of 18th century books such as Henry Dean’s Hocus Pocus (1722) with descriptions of the secrets behind the cups and balls, card and coin tricks and tricks of confederacy. The publisher, William Strange of Paternoster Row, produced a mixture of cheap periodicals, political works and penny bloods - small, cheap editions of literature.