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The Boston Museum of Fine Arts is sponsoring a special exhibit on The Phantasmagoria now through June 24th.

Phantasmagoria was a form of horror  theater that (among other techniques) used one or more optical devices known as magic lanterns to project frightening images such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts onto walls, smoke, or semi-transparent screens.  The shows started under the guise of actual séances in Germany in the late 18th century, and gained popularity through most of Europe (including Britain) throughout the 19th century.  Learn more about Phantasmagoria at the MFA.

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John Hodgson was interviewed on NPR’s WAMU radio station on his new book, Richard Potter: America’s First Black Celebrity.  The interview is available for free from WAMU and includes excerpts from the Potter book.  

Mr. Hodgson will present on his book in Keene (4/23), Concord(5/5), and Hopinton, NH (6/24). More details..

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Potter & Potter’s Spring Magic Auction, April 28th, 2018, features two recently rediscovered Houdini scrapbooks. The auction also includes Houdiniana in a range of categories, plus a wide offering of magic books, posters, broadsides, ephemera, and vintage magic apparatus. Now you can bid live, online (with a 20% buyer’s premium), at potterauctions.com.

Houdini’s personal copy of his The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin  is being reproduced by David Haversat’s 1878 Press Co., for a limited time. First published 110 years ago, the new edition includes unseen additions and changes made by Houdini himself. This book has been published by David Haversat’s 1878 Press Co.  Deluxe copy – limited production.  $49.95 from 1878press.com.

The meeting at the Magic Barn on March 24 was a great success.  Thanks to Vincent Golden, curator of newspapers at the American Antiquarian Society, for his lecture on the less obvious magic items among their holdings.  The attending members are pictured below at The Magic Barn in Ashland, MA.

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On April 7th and 8th, 2018, Auction Results in conjunction with Owen Magic Supreme, will conduct the third auction of the exquisite magic collection of William H.McIlhany (1951-2017). Bill McIlhany (1951-2017) was the consummate collector of all things magical and was considered one of the most knowledgeable magic collectors in the world.

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A great article by Jeffrey Matulef, on the Genii Online website, on how NEMCA’s Yankee Gathering is Keeping the Spirit of Magic Collecting Alive.

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Apart from a handful of exotic–and almost completely unreliable–tales surrounding his life, Richard Potter is almost unknown today. Two hundred years ago, however, he was the most popular entertainer in America–the first showman, in fact, to win truly nationwide fame. Working as a magician and ventriloquist, he personified for an entire generation what a popular performer was and made an invaluable contribution to establishing popular entertainment as a major part of American life. His story is all the more remarkable in that Richard Potter was also a black man.

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