A few years later, in 1658, came a very important contribution to the history of magic in "Natural Magick in XX. Bookes," by John Baptist Porta, a Neapolitan. This has been translated into nearly every language. It was the first really important and exhaustive work on the subject, but, unfortunately, it gives the explanation of tricks, rather than an authentic record of their invention. In 1682, Simon Witgeest of Amsterdam, Holland, wrote an admirable work, whose title reads "Book of Natural Magic." This work was translated into German, ran through many an edition, and had an enormous sale in both Holland and Germany. [Illustration: Frontispiece from Simon Witgeest's "Book of Natural Magic" (1682), showing the early Dutch conception of conjuring. From the Harry Houdini Collection.] In 1715, John White, an Englishman, published a work entitled "Art's Treasury and Hocus Pocus; or a Rich Cabinet of Legerdemain Curiosities." This is fully as reliable a book as the earlier "Hocus Pocus" books, but it is not so generally known. Richard Neve, who was a popular English conjurer just before the time of Fawkes, published a book on somewhat similar lines in 1715. Germany contributed the next notable works on magic. First came Johann Samuel Halle's "Magic or the Magical Power of Nature," printed in Berlin, in 1784. One of his compatriots, Johann Christian Wiegleb, wrote eighteen books on "The Natural Magic" and while I shall always contend that the German books are the most complete, yet they cannot be accepted as authorities save that, in describing early tricks, they prove the existence of inventions and working methods claimed later as original by men like Robert-Houdin. English books on magic were not accepted seriously until the early part of the nineteenth century. In Vol. III. of John Beckmann's "History of Inventions and Discoveries," published in 1797, will be found a chapter on "Jugglers" which presents interesting matter regarding magicians and mysterious entertainers. I quote from this book in disproving Robert-Houdin's claims to the invention of automata and second-sight. About 1840, J. H. Anderson, a popular magician, brought out a series of inexpensive, paper-bound volumes, entitled "A Shilling's Worth of Magic," "Parlor Magic," etc., which are valuable only as giving a glimpse of the tricks contemporary with his personal successes. In 1859 came Robert-Houdin's "Memoirs," magic's classic. Signor Blitz, in 1872, published his reminiscences, "Fifty Years in the Magic Circle," but here again we have a purely local and personal history, without general value. [Illustration: John White, an English writer on magic and kindred arts in the early part of the eighteenth century. Only portrait in existence and published for the first time since his book was issued in 1715. From the Harry Houdini Collection.]