28 JANUARY 1871, Page 24

The Art of Amusing, by Frank Bellew (J. C. Hotten),

is a book which really deserves its title. It is amusing to read, and it gives a number of plain and practical directions for a vast variety of amusing tricks and performances. How to make an elephant, an animal which requires for its construction two young gentlemen and a roll of paper for the trunk, how to make a giant, how to turn a man's head, how to make your hand talk,—all these processes and many others are described in a most per- spicuous fashion. Then there are puzzles and charades, in fact what- ever you want for amusing people who are still happy enough to be amused by these things. In short, this is the best book of the kind which we have seen.