Hey there...I know this book is kind of magical, but still (;)). I was wondering what year this book was published. My father got the book a long time ago. Awhile back I found it sitting on one of the shelves at our old house. I looked through it to see exactly how old it is, but never found a year...thanks!

Daniel Santos

Here's the Barnes & Noble page for that book. I don't know when the individual items and sections in the book were first published.

Awesome. Thanks!

I remember that book being sold many years ago by discounters of books. It was inticing to read as a youngster with all of those amazing contraptions. But I am glad that I was unable to acquire any of the chemicals mentioned for some of the flashier effects! I might have ended up as one of these:

LOL That's what you can do trying to draw a picture with potassium nitrate

I remember at a Tom Burgoon lecture, he said that he still likes to go back and read Dunninger's Encyclopedia. My library has it and I occasional check it out to look through. There are some pretty nifty things in there!

I ALWAYS look through that book. Gets me thinking...

Is this the "fluff" book? (You know, the one where the ideas and secrets are SO ridiculous that nobody would ever use them?)

The book was first published back in the 1920s! (Some people wrongly guess the 1940s). It was published by Science and Invention magazine (back then, magic was so popular, even science magazines ran magic columns). Dunninger, the compiler, had the resourses of the magazine's entire staff of artists to illustrate the book. That's why the book is so lavishly illistrated. I believe the book was originally published as 3 smaller books called "Popular Magic." Science and Invention magazine would sometimes publish books that sold on the newsstands alongside the magazines, just like mags do today. Science and Invention also published interesting books on spirit exposes, etc. Unfortunately, the magazine folded at the end of the 1920s with the onset of the Great Depression, like many other magazines, I suspect, but the book lives on. Illustrated in almost a comic book fashion, it is LOADS of fun to look at. I would just browse thru it for hours as a kid, and everytime I opened it up to a random page (the best way to look at it) I found something new. I still enjoy looking at it from time to time. But it's more of a "fun" book than a "practical" book.

I now have two of these (both given to me as presents from layfriends) but they're in pretty bad condition, so I can't really sell them.

My seventh grade teacher gave me Mark Wilson's Complete Encyclopedia of Magic, the Hardbound version. That's one of the greatest gifts I ever recieved, it got me even more interested in magic......in fact, I think I'll go read it now.....

Follow your 7th grade teacher's example, Jordini, and GIVE them to a couple of young magic buffs. If they're anything like me, they'll love 'em!

I haven't met any yet.