Parlour Tricks: The Book

Parlour Tricks is a book about parlor tricks. I know what you’re thinking. You spelt it incorrectly. Ah, well, there’s the thing you see. The two gentlemen responsible for the book happen to be British, and they insisted on spelling it the “British way”. They also happen to be Victorian time travelers, but more on that later. First of all, let’s find out exactly who these British “chaps” are, exactly.

Who Are Morgan & West?

According to their website, they’re “magicians, time-travellers* & all round spiffing chaps”. Otherwise known as Rhys Morgan and Robert West. The pair met whilst at university in Oxford. And rather than use the extremely expensive and privileged education they’d fortunately received to do something like enter politics, or present something on the BBC, they threw that all away to start a career in magic. And I, for one, am very thankful for that.

They’ve spent their career appearing on TV, and touring the UK playing theaters with a series of original shows. The duo have performed several times at Edinburgh Fringe and even Magic: Live and Magifest.

In short, they know their onions.

What Is Parlour Tricks

It’s our best-selling magic book of all time. A few years ago, Messrs. Morgan and West toured the UK with a show of the same name. This book is not just a series of trick explanations, it’s a dissection of that entire show. Every word spoken. Every trick. It even covers sound and lighting and how they set up the backstage and wings of the theater.

Who Is Parlour Tricks For

I’ll tell you who it’s not for. It’s not for a time-traveling Victorian duo called Morgan & West, because they’ll be pretty familiar with the majority of the content contained here. It is, though, for anyone interested in parlor tricks or stage magic. Whilst M&W perform as a double act, do not think for one moment the material within is limited to double acts. In fact, all of the tricks can be performed by one person - generally they’ve been adapted for a double act, like the Passe Passe Bottles the book opens with. This book will inspire you, and educate you. And also give you a jolly good laugh or two along the way.

*Not only do they spell parlor parlour, they also spell travelers travellers. And don’t even ASK about how they pronounce aluminium.