John Henry Anderson

Nicknamed ‘The Great Wizard of the North’, John Henry Anderson was born in Kincardine O’Neil, Aberdeenshire. At the age of ten he was apprenticed to a theatre company where he began learning magic tricks. By 1837 he had launched what would prove to be a highly successful career, elevating the art of magic from the street to theatres around the world.

In 1840 John appeared at the Strand Theatre, London, where his ground-breaking illusions delighted audiences and received rave reviews. A confident self-publicist, John styled himself as ‘Professor Anderson’ and published several popular books on magic. On his return to Scotland he opened a 5,000-seat theatre in Glasgow where he performed magic and produced opera and variety shows. The first magician to pull a live rabbit from a top hat, he attracted the attention of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and performed for the royal couple at their castle in Balmoral.

When his theatre in Glasgow was destroyed by fire in 1845, John took his talents abroad performing throughout Europe, Russia, North America and Australia. One of several books written by John Henry Anderson, this contains 128 experiments, “adapted for performance at the parlour or drawing-room table or fire-side: practicable without expensive chemical or mechanical apparatus”.