Dr Hugh Simmons Lynn toured many countries and this book, with a frontispiece by George Cruickshank Jr, records his adventures. In 1864, Lynn was possibly the first to perform Japanese Butterfly Trick in the West, which involved paper butterflies dancing from a fan. He claimed he had learned the trick while travelling in Japan. From 1873 he presented a rival magic programme at the Egyptian Hall, the home of Maskelyne and Cooke. It was a wide-ranging show, including spirit rapping and table-turning, clairvoyance, the Indian Basket trick, aerial suspensions and the Palingenesia – a decapitation trick that extended to removing the arms and legs – among many others. Lynn’s patter included the phrase ‘that’s how it’s done’ and it became a popular catch phrase, no doubt helped by this book. As a child, Harry Houdini was inspired by a Dr Lynn, but that is likely to have been an imitator who was riding on Lynn’s success by using his name.