Product Description
Hypnotic gestures.Fancy clothes.Lovely assistants.These things may make the magician, but science makes the magic.Levitation tells the amazing true story of the most dazzling illusion ever performed on stage, and features a cast of characters that seems too good to be true: The Scientist: John Neville Maskelyne, the oh-so-proper British magician and the trick's inventor. The American: Harry Kellar couldn't buy the illusion, so he found another way to get it. The Inventor: Guy Jarrett, the rough-and-tumble engineer who perfected the illusion. The Heir: Howard Thurston, the handsome and charismatic performer who inherited the act from Kellar and then, according to Kellar, ruined it.Or did he? Join us on stage and behind it and learn not only how to defy gravity, but why people believed you could. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Both facinating and accurate
A surprisingly detailed and accurate account of one of the most beautiful pieces in magic history. Some magicians will bristle at what is revealed here...but understanding does not preclude wonder...not if the information is artfully presented.

Terrific graphic novel about magic: behind the scenes
Levitation by Jim Ottaviani and Janine Johnston is an expose of how magicians perform their famous levitation tricks on stage. But the book is far more than that. This beautiful graphic novel is narrated by a stagehand who knows the history of the trick and how it traveled from Europe with the magician John Neville Maskelyne to the American Harry Kellar, who stole the trick. The slim volume has backstage drama along with technical detail all lovingly illustrated by Johnston. Each panel is fantastic, especially those where real posters have been included. There's not a lot to this book, but what is there is all pleasing. I even got my husband to read this, and he's not a fan of graphic novels. Very enjoyable read! ... Read more