The Magician's Library

Abstract

THERE IS SIGNIFICANCE, perhaps, in the fact that in 1876, the year the first library in Moberly, Missouri, probably disappeared, a Wizard came to town. Professor Macallister, the Prince of Magic Performers, gave ‘great entertainments’ for three days, April 3rd, 4th and 5th, at Morgan's Opera House. ‘Without a peer in his line of business’, and ‘a gentleman whom it is a pleasure to know’, wrote the editor of the Moberly Enterprise‐Monitor (the first daily published in Moberly, its first issue dated 3 April 1873). ‘Do not be misled by classing the great East Indian magician with inferior traveling concerns, styling themselves Fakirs, etc. They not only injure reputations of first class magicians, but they give their patrons snide jewelry and sham watches for presents.’ Not so Professor Mac‐allister, who, in addition to his first‐class performance, distributed one hundred costly and valuable presents each evening: china tea sets, chamber sets, tête‐à‐têtes, chairs, marble‐topped tables, bureaus, American watches. Wisely, too, these articles were not brought out of the Wizard's hat but were purchased by his canny manager, Mr Harry Weston, from the business houses in the town. Any resident—or visiting drummer—for 25 cents (50 cents reserved seat) could see a true Wizard perform and also have a chance of winning atête‐à‐tête or a chamber set.

Citation

Werkley, C.E. (1976), "The Magician's Library", Library Review, Vol. 25 No. 5/6, pp. 193-202. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb020915