Edwins Magic
Book Review

Edwin Hooper was famous for running Supreme Magic based out of Bideford, Devon, England. They made and distributed hundreds of original magic effects. They were best known for their cardboard card type tricks like Farmyard Frolics.

Edwin was also very much the gentle English magician who would talk ever so nice to the children. (I explain how this differs in my review of the David Ginn Kidbiz book). Most of the material here is from the 1950's through to the 1980's. The artwork on the props makes you feel like you are in a post war museum. That is all easily changed. The underlying principles and clever thinking and child friendly material is what you want out of these books.

These books describe hundreds of effects, most of them unavailable now. He does hoewever describe in reasonable enough detail how you can make many of them for yourself. I did just that and now have some amazingly useful routines that are perfect for my educational shows. Effects like Scotty Scarecrow and The Rajah's Jewels are perfect for illustrating so many messages like anti bullying, dental care and reading is fun. Teachers and educators love this sort of stuff. And you can be guaranteed that hardly anyone will have ever seen these props before, which adds to your marketing.

If you have no woodworking or creative skills you could easily seek out a retired person who likes tinkering and making small projects. There is nothing hard about the construction techniques.

The routining and storylines are very out of date so you will need to put your own spin on the stories. I never thought that these sort of effects would play for today's audiences. I was very wrong. Young kids LOVE much of the material in these books.

There are so many ideas in these books. You will be forever referring to them. The layout and diagrams are very old fashioned but the information is all there.

Edwins Magic is really good investment if you are seriously thinking of taking up entertaining children as an income earning career. eBay type sites would be your best bet. These books are not very well known, but now you know about them, and I can recommend them highly.