Modern Magic is a landmark in magic books. First published in 1874, it was the first in a tetralogy of books – More Magic (1890), Later Magic (1903) and Latest Magic (1918) – that for the first time attempted an encyclopaedic and instructional compendium of performance magic. It was an immediate success. The first edition of 2,000 copies sold out in seven weeks and the book reached 15 editions by the end of the 19th century. The comprehensiveness and accessibility of the book meant it became an effective textbook for aspiring magicians as well as a record of the contemporary practice of magic. The roots of the book were in articles that Professor Hoffman published in Every Boy’s Paper. As well as his own knowledge, he drew on material from books by Robert-Houdin and from Jean Nicholas Ponsin’s Nouvelle Magie Blanche Dévoilée (1853). British magician David Devant wrote in his autobiography that reading the book ‘opened up a new fairyland. I saw before me the road to success’.