The Spectacle of Illusion

In ‘The Spectacle of Illusion’, professional magician-turned-experimental psychologist Dr Matthew L Tompkins investigates the arts of deception as practised and popularised by mesmerists, magicians and psychics since the early 18th century. Organised thematically within a broadly chronological trajectory, this compelling book explores how illusions perpetuated by magicians and fraudulent mystics can not only deceive our senses but also teach us about the inner workings of our minds. Indeed, modern scientists are increasingly turning to magic tricks to develop new techniques to examine human perception, memory and belief. 

Beginning by discussing mesmerism and spiritualism, the book moves on to consider how professional magicians such as John Nevil Maskelyne and Harry Houdini engaged with these movements – particularly how they set out to challenge and debunk paranormal claims. It also relates the interactions between magicians, mystics and scientists over the past 200 years, and reveals how the researchers who attempted to investigate magical and paranormal phenomena were themselves deceived, and what this can teach us about deception.

The book is highly illustrated throughout, with entertaining and bizarre drawings, double-exposure spirit photographs and photographs of spoon-bending from hitherto inaccessible and unmined archives. These include Wellcome Collection, the Harry Price Library, the Society for Psychical Research, and last but not least, the Magic Circle’s closely guarded collection. ‘The Spectacle of Illusion’ also features newly commissioned photography of planchettes, rapping boards, tilting tables, ectoplasm, automata and illusion boxes.

Concluding with a modern-day analysis of the science of magic and illusion, including surprisingly weird phenomena such as ideomotor actions, sleep paralysis, choice blindness and the psychology of misdirection, this unnerving volume highlights how unreliable our minds can be, and how complicit in the perpetuation of illusions.