It is not known for certain who the first magician in human history was.
The first known document that mentions illusionary art is the ancient Egyptian papyrus Vestkar, named after the owner of the collection where it was originally kept.
This document contains legends dating back to 2900 BC, the reign of Pharaoh Khufu (known to us as Cheops). One of the stories mentions a performance by a magician and trainer named Jedi, who can put a severed goose’s head back in place and grow it back and can make a lion follow him without chains. It is clear that the performance was nothing more than a trick.
Weba-aner, one of the magicians mentioned in the Westcar Papyri, was known for taking a small wax figure of a crocodile and inexplicably turning it into a living, adult and very fierce beast.
For the first time in fiction, magicians were mentioned in the 16th century: Teofilo Folengo from Mantua in his poem “Macaronada” introduced a magician named Boccal de Bergamosc.
Later, in 1750, the Italian magician Balducci performed an unusual trick with the decapitation of a bird in public. He showed the crowd a bird with its head pressed to its body and tied, and another severed head attached to its neck. The imaginary head was then cut off, and blood was even spurting from it. When the bird was covered with a handkerchief, the magician would untie the rope and present the “newly grown” rooster’s head to the people.
Thanks to Amayak Hakobyan, we all know the “spell of all time” “sim-sala-bim”. In fact, it was not invented by him, but by a magician named Dante about 100 years ago. This phrase has nothing to do with illusionists: it is “nonsense”, a quote from a children’s rhyme.
The appearance of a rabbit from a cylinder is sometimes mistakenly considered a classic trick. In fact, this trick is not often performed. Probably, John Henry Anderson was the first to show it. It happened in the 1830s.
The “orange tree” – one of the most famous tricks of the XIX century – was performed by the Frenchman Jean-Etienne Robert-Oudin. In front of the audience, Robert-Oudin poured earth into a pot, threw grain in it, and watered it several times during the performance. A sprout appeared in the pot, it turned into a green bush, and then became covered with oranges. The magician cut them and treated the audience to them. He cut the last orange, and two mechanical butterflies steamed out of it and flew across the stage.
“The Miser’s Dream” is the name of a classic trick where coins appear in the air and rain down on the stage.
The magician Pinetti, who lived in the 18th century, became famous for his swallow trick. He would take out a cage and pull a bird out of it and hand it to the first spectator he saw. The swallow would immediately die and show no signs of life. The illusionist would then approach a woman sitting in the audience and ask her to breathe on the dead body, after which the swallow would immediately resurrect.
In fact, Pinetti was well versed in ornithology. He knew that if you lightly squeeze the carotid artery of a bird, it will fall asleep. And in just a few minutes, it would wake up from sleep.
