Victorian conjuring and magic literature

Angelo John Lewis

1839 – 1919

Angelo John Lewis, writing as Professor Hoffmann, was a London barrister who became the most prolific and influential magic author of the Victorian era, producing the encyclopedic trilogy Modern Magic (1876), More Magic (1890), and Later Magic (1904). His books constituted the first comprehensive technical textbooks on conjuring, shaping both the professionalization of stage magic and the cultural demarcation between performance illusion and genuine occult practice. His work is essential for understanding how Victorian popular magic intersected with and distinguished itself from the concurrent occult revival.