14 DECEMBER 1889, Page 24

More Magic. By Professor Hoffmann. (Routledge and Sons.) —We have,

we think, more than once recorded the appearance of a volume by Mr. Hoffmann, under the title of " Modern Magic." Now we find that this treatise has been complained of as "not quite up to date," and that as " conjuring, like other arts, has been ' moving on,' " there is need for a supplement, which accordingly our• author proceeds to give us in this volume. It seems to us that he reveals a number of secrets, secrets of the wand, the hat, the table ; but the secret of conjuring, the skilful hand, is incom- municable. Tricks with cards occupy, as might be supposed, a considerable part, nearly a third, of the volume. But many things are pressed into the service of the conjurer,—coins, hats, hand- kerchiefs, and we know not what else. Mr. Hoffmann gives a vast variety of tricks, divided into those that are done by simple sleight- of-hand, and those that require a special apparatus. The reader may take his choice, for ample materials are supplied, and move on, as his ambition prompts, to feats of the most extraordinary kind.