If you are into magic tricks, science or illustration drawings, you should get these free magical experiments books online.
They are not actually magic tricks as performed by prestidigitators or conjurors.
They are so-called science magic tricks, as these startling effects appear magical and mysterious.
The secrets of these science magic tricks are based on scientific principles or concepts that makes them look like magic tricks.
To conjure the scientific amusement or mystifying magical demonstrations, you need the help of physics, chemistry, or optical illusions.
For those how still do not know, all magic tricks and stage illusions effects are based on science and particularly neuroscience.
Watch this video by Scientific American, titled “Neuroscience Meets Magic“.
Free Psychology Of Magic Books
If you are interested to know how conjuring techniques trick your brain, read these free books.
Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions By Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde With Sandra Blakeslee
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
Experiencing the Impossible: The Science of Magic By Gustav Kuhn
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The Illusionist Brain: The Neuroscience Of Magic By Jordi Camí & Luis M. Martinez
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How Magicians Think: Misdirection, Deception, And Why Magic Matters By Jay Joshua
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The Psychology Of Magic And The Magic Of Psychology Edited By Amir Raz, Jay A. Olson And Gustav Kuhn
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
Magic In Mind: Essential Essays For Magicians Edited Joshua Jay
Click on this: Link
Magical Tricks, Scientific Experiments & Illustrations
Are you a keen collector of books on free magical experiments books, scientific experiments and illustrations artworks?
Then keep reading:
For this blog post, I only select those free magical experiments books with hand-drawn artwork, particularly those vintage engraved illustrations.
I have a fascination for all those old mail-order, novelties, magic trick catalogs illustrated with hand-drawn artworks.
Illustrated Descriptive Price List of Magical Apparatus and Illusions by Otto Maurer
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
The Crest Magician: Devoted To Magic And Magicians Nov. 1907
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The Magic Catalogue: A Guide To The Wonderful World Of Magic By William Doerflinger
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Novelties Johnson Smith and Co. 1951 Catalog by Johnson Smith & Co.
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So if you are a keen collector of books on magical effects, scientific experiments together with illustration artworks, then this article is definitely for you.
While researching for the old-time books on magic science experiments, I came across these two prominent French personalities.
Free Magical Experiments Books Online
They are Arthur Good and Gaston Tissandier.
I found their works fit the bill: fun magical science experiments together with superb illustrations.
Arthur Good aka Tom Tit
Arthur Good (pen name Tom Tit) was a French engineer and Science educator.
He wrote a series of weekly articles titled “La Science Amusante” (Amusing Science) for the French news periodical called L’Illustration.
For those who are interested more about this publication
L’Illustration, check out its official website.
Here is an archive with past issues of L’Illustration.
His articles are about simple past times and experiments with physics which meant to amuse, astonish, entertain and educate all age groups.
He showed you how to do magical experiments based on physical and scientific principles with every day household items.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Librairie Larousse in Paris published Arthur aka Tom Tit’s fun and educational “La Science Amusante” articles into three volumes.
In these fabulous three tomes, you will be entertained by three hundred over magical science tricks, and at the same time bedazzled by the beautiful illustrations done with wood engravings.
They were rendered by well-known engraver Louis Poyet and his team of assistants.
You can view some of Louis Poyet’s other artworks here.
These vintage engraved illustrations are extremely stunning, even the Surrealists used these detailed drawings for their collage artworks.
For those of you who love home decoration, you can reproduce these age-old finely-drawn pictures into stunning posters.
RELATED: Check out these five websites for free vintage illustrations.
These are the free Arthur Good’s books on fun science experiments, family recreations and paper toys.
La Science Amusante Books In French
The three volumes or series of “La Science Amusante” in French are:
La Science Amusante: 100 Nouvelles Expériences (Premiére Série)
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
This first volume has 100 experiments, 115 engravings.
La Science Amusante: 100 Nouvelles Experiences (Deuxième Série)
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
This second volume has 106 experiments, 150 engravings
La Science Amusante: 100 Nouvelles Expériences (Troisième Série)
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This third volume has 100 experiments, 118 engravings.
La Science Amusante Books In English
In 1892, Worthington Company published a collection of Arthur Good articles as a book in English titled “Magical Experiments, or Science in Play”.
It was translated from French by Camden Curwen and
Robert Waters.
This 326-page book is broken down into 13 categories: Experiments In Physics, Complementary Colors, Gravity, Centrifugal Force, Capillarity, Elasticity And Compressibility Of Gases, Heat, Acoustics, Electricity, Optics, Practical Geometry, Amusing Feats, and Little Feats Of Amateurs.
Magical Experiments: Or, Science In Play By Arthur Good (Tom Tit)
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
NOTE: The third link is a 2019 edition by Dover Publications, and titled as “Magical Experiments: Scientific Amusements To Entertain And Instruct”.
Magic At Home: A Book of Amusing Science Translated And Edited By Professor Hoffmann (Angelo John Lewis)
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
La Science Amusante Books In Italian
La Scienza Dilettevole: 208 Esperimenti Riccamente Illustrati
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Other Books By Tom Tit In French & English
You can find tips and ideas on how to make toys and amusements for children.
Not forgetting playing cards, matchboxes, raffia and feathers and about games and puzzles using everyday objects.
La Récréation En Famille By Tom Tit
Click on this: Link
Pour Amuser Les Petits By Tom Tit
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
Les Bons Jeudis By Tom Tit
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Joujoux En Papier By Tom Tit
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Scientific Amusements By Tom Tit
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100 Amazing Magic Tricks By Arthur Good, Translation & Adaptation By David Roberts
Click on this: Link
NOTE: For the above book, you need to sign up a free account with Internet Archive to borrow this book for 1 hour or 14 days.
Anyway, for those who want to download and save a copy for yourself, read “How To Save Internet Archive Borrow Books: 1 Hour And 14 Days“.
Gaston Tissandier Scientific Amusement Books
Gaston Tissandier was a French chemist, meteorologist, balloonist and science writer.
He founded and edited the weekly scientific periodical La Nature: Revue Des Sciences Et de Leurs Applications Aux Arts Et A L’Industrie.
Besides writing scientific works, Tissandier also published several titles for the younger readers.
The content is taken from his column “Physique Sans Appareils” (physics without apparatus) in La Nature.
Note: Here you can view the full issue only for the first seven volumes of La Nature.
You can also find several volumes over at Google Books:
Vol. 1, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 13, Vol. 14, Vol. 16, Vol. 18, Vol. 19, Vol. 20, Vol 21
Gaston Tissandier Books In French
Les Re’cre’ations Scientifiques Ou L’Eenseignement Par Les Jeux
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
Jeux Et Jouets Du Jeune Âge: Choix De Re’cre’ations Amusantes & Instructives
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
Gaston Tissandier Books In English
Popular Scientific Recreations In Natural Philosphy, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
Half Hours Of Scientific Amusement; Or Practical Physics And Chemistry Without Apparatus
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
Ferdinand Faideau La Science Curieuse Et Amusante
This is another interesting book by another French guy Ferdinand Faideau.
Ferdinand Faideau was a professor of natural sciences.
It is not a magical experiments book, but it is about science too.
This free 425-page book features the curiosity, recreations and fantasies about science and its applications.
It doesn’t matter if you can’t understand French, just check out the many interesting illustrations.
La Science Curieuse Et Amusante: Curiosités, Récréations Et Fantaisies Sur Les Sciences Et Leurs Applications
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
This is another book filled with 47 classic science experiments with illustrations, gathered from various sources, including Arthur Good and Gaston Tissandier’s works.
47 Easy-to-Do Classic Science Experiments By Eugene F. Provenzo, Asterie Baker Provenz
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This is another similar free book using science experiments with everyday objects, accompanied with hand drawn artworks.
Here are more free magical experimental books:
The Magic of Science: A Manual Of Easy And Instructive By James Wylde
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Experimental Science: Elementary, Practical And Experimental Physics By George Milton Hopkins
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The Boy’s Playbook Of Science, Revised With Additions by T.C. Hepworth By John Henry Pepper
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
Cyclopaedic Science Simplified By John Henry Pepper
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Scientific Amusements For Young people, Etc By John Henry Pepper
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Entertaining Science Experiments With Everyday Objects By Martin Gardner
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Magical Tricks With Chemical Books
Chemcraft Chemical Magic: 95 Mystifying Magical Demonstrations
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How to Do Chemical Tricks: Containing Over One Hundred Highly Amusing and Instructive Tricks With Chemicals By A. Anderson
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Chemistry And Chemical Magic By Valentine Edward Johnson
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Recreative Science: Record And Remembrancer Of Intellectual Observation, Vol. I
Click on any of these: Link 1, Link 2
Recreative Science: Record And Remembrancer Of Intellectual Observation, Vol. II
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Recreative Science: Record And Remembrancer Of Intellectual Observation, Vol. III
Click on this: Link
RELATED: Free old issues of Popular Science since 1872 to 2009 and other science-related free books.
Popular Science Free PDF All In One Place
DISCLAIMER: I do not publish or host any of these free magical experiments books here. They are copyrighted to their respective owners. All content cited is derived from their respective sources.