CONTENTS Pocket Notes—Stephen Minch 7 Piddington on Mentalism— Barry H. Wiley 9 Pablo Minguet and His Times— Enrique Jiménez-Martínez 51 An Engaños a ojos vistas Checklist— Enrique Jiménez-Martínez with William Kalush 95 A Critic and a Curious Response— Enrique Jiménez-Martínez 163 Science without Fallacy— Francisco Papuè 175 Contributors 285 Q
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Syd and Lesley Piddington—1947
The Piddingtons—1947
PIDDINGTON ON MENTALISM BARRY H. WILEY “There it is...you are the judge.” I have decided to specialize, for the time being anyway, in mental magic, people seem to be going for it in a big way. Sydney Piddington Personal letter, April 12, 1946 I won’t attempt to prove the genuineness of the Piddingtons’ telepathy; I will just say that it is genuine. Having produced five programs, knowing every detail and every precaution taken, I can say quite truthfully that there never has been a single instance of fake thought transference by Sydney P iddington or his wife. Frederick Piffard Radio Times, August 19, 1949
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cross the hotel room from me, Syd Piddington relaxed on a leather sofa. His wife, Robyn, had taken their two-year-old son, Edwin Sydney, for a long walk around the neighborhood of my hotel, located in The Rocks district of Sydney, Australia. It was 1987. Syd and I had been exchanging letters and phone calls since 1981 on the performance and marketing of mentalism. (Martin Breese, the British magic dealer, had given me Syd’s address.) In my first letter to Syd, I had explained that I wasn’t interested in methods, only in how he had planned and sold his shows. Syd was easy to meet, a tall, lean, outgoing man with a quick smile, a wide grin and a firm handshake. We sipped the coffee brought up by room service as I asked Syd a somewhat casual question: “Are the initials of your son a coincidence?” Q
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B a r ry H . Wi l e y
On August 18, 1949, the BBC received a telegraphed threat to disrupt the Piddington show.
Syd did not want the show switched to Continuity. If Donaldson showed up, Syd did not want him to be restricted or dragged out of the studio. So long as there was no physical threat to Lesley, he wanted to convert the incident into headlines. Franklin Engelmann of the BBC agreed. 34 2 Gibecière ‹› Summer 2013 Q
P i d d i n g t o n o n M e n ta l i s m
Unfortunately, Donaldson never appeared. • Q
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B a r ry H . Wi l e y
South African one-sheeter, 1950 44 2 Gibecière ‹› Summer 2013 Q
Engraved frontispiece by Pablo Minguet for Bibliotheca universal de la polygraphia española by Cristóbal Rodríguez, 1738
PABLO MINGUET AND HIS TIMES ENRIQUE JIMÉNEZ-MARTÍNEZ
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ince my previous essays, published in Gibecière as introductions to the English translations of Pablo Minguet y Yrol’s Engaños a ojos vistas (Summer 2009) and Diego Joseph Zamorano’s Thesoro atractivo de curiosos (Summer 2011), some important discoveries have been made. Having received a number of comments, suggestions and requests from readers, I will take advantage of this presentation of newly discovered information to expand a little as well on Minguet, on the various editions of Engaños a ojos vistas, genuine and false, and on the books, pro and contra, written about Don Pablo’s conjuring treatise.1
Pablo Minguet y Yrol, Author and Publisher Don Pablo Minguet’s versatility as an author was remarkable. He published many fundamental works covering diverse topics, most of them well illustrated with engravings by his own hand.2 Like many of his contemporaries, he published volumes containing much information assumed from other authors, while seldom acknowledging his sources. Most of his resources were books in Spanish and French.3 He was not a practitioner or an expert in all the matters about which he wrote. Minguet, as has been acknowledged, was not a conjurer. When approaching Engaños a ojos vistas, he did so as an author, a publisher, an engraver and a compiler of tricks. It would be unwise, though, to suppose that Don Pablo had no other interests and skills, whether they were exercised as a hobby or even as a way of earning a little extra money. He was certainly not a professional dancer, Q
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E n r i q u e J i m é n e z - M a rt í n e z
The 1745 license for Engaños a ojos vistas stating a fine for unauthorized copies (from the 1755 third edition)
This, he said, was a natural right, like that with any other property. Comparing writing with any other form of labor, he said that only the author and his relatives had the right to profit from the sales of the works. A Royal Order of October 2, 1785, gave some protection to translators, so that there could be several translations of the same work. However, better legislation was still necessary. In the United States, the first law protecting authors’ rights was published as The Copyright Act of 1790. Spain didn’t pass a similar law until more than a decade after Minguet’s death. It was in Las Cortes de Cádiz (The Courts of Cadiz) that the Decreto sobre Propiedad Literaria (Decree of Literary Property) was published on June 10, 1813. This decree says that the owner of the 62 2 Gibecière ‹› Summer 2013 Q
Library of the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid
Pa b l o M i n g u e t a n d H i s Ti m e s
The laminita fina from the 1733 edition of Engaños a ojos vistas Q
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AN ENGAÑOS A OJOS VISTAS CHECKLIST ENRIQUE JIMÉNEZ-MARTÍNEZ WITH WILLIAM KALUSH
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his updated checklist of editions has been compiled in collaboration with William Kalush. Any works appearing within green brackets have not been examined by Mr. Kalush or myself, but the information about these editions has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable. The checklist has been made from the various editions we have found or to which we have found reference. They are listed here in order of their apparent dates of printing. We have included both legal and pirated editions. Several errors and omissions in the previous version of this list have been corrected. Nevertheless, it is still a preliminary work, subject to further research. At this point, it is still not our main purpose to determinate definitively the authenticity of any early edition or issue, or other data presented. 1. ENGAÑOS A OJOS VISTAS, | Y DIVERSION | DE TRABAJOS MUNDANOS, | FUNDADA | EN LICITOS JUEGOS DE MANOS. | QUE CONTIENE TODAS LAS | diferencias de los Cubiletes, y otras habilida- | des muy curiosas, demonstradas con diferen- | tes laminas, para que los pueda hacer | facilmente qualquier en- | tretenido. | SU AUTOR | PABLO MINGUET E YROL, | residente en esta Corte. | CON PRIVILEGIO. | [rule] | EN MADRID: En la Imprenta de Don | Pedro Joseph Alonso y Padilla, Librero | de Camara del Rey nuestro señor. | Año de 1733. [18] 110 pp. Woodcuts and copper engraving plate. Q
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A CRITIC AND A CURIOUS RESPONSE ENRIQUE JIMÉNEZ-MARTÍNEZ
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eaders of this journal are aware of the historical importance of Minguet’s book on conjuring, it being the first published in Spanish. They will also be familiar with the critical work published to censure Minguet’s conjuring work, Thesoro atractivo de curiosos, y desengaño de engaños: impugnación de los juegos de manos del libro intitulado: Engaños a ojos vistas, &c., que dió a luz Pablo Minguet..., written and published in 1740 by Diego Joseph Zamorano. I first learned of the existence of this book around 1977, when I found its title in the posthumous inventory of an eighteenthcentury judge in New Spain. Later, two copies were located in important institutions. For a long time, I believed there might be only two copies of the Zamorano booklet extant in public libraries: in the National Library of Chile and in the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen (the State and University Library of Göttingen, Germany). Of course, I left open the possibility that one or more copies might reside in other collections. Quite recently I found that a third copy does exist: in the Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial (the Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial) near Madrid. It seems the book is not in good condition, but I was glad to learn that this further example is available for study. I had felt it sad that there was probably not a single copy of this little book in Spain, but now I know there is at least one, and it is significant that it has been preserved in such a worthy institution, founded in the sixteenth century by King Q
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•
S C I E N C E WITHOUT FALL ACY,
FEATS OF SKILL WITHOUT DECEPTIONS AND RECREATIONS FOR THE PRUDENT PA PE R C O N T R A D I C TO RY TO T H E Undeception from deceptions given to the press by Diego Joseph Zamorano.
CHALLENGING THE BOOK ENTITLED DECEPTIONS in plain sight, written by Pablo Minguet.
IN WHICH ARE FOUND TWENTY Arithmetical operations with Playing Cards, and among them the one of ascertaining the card a Person chose in his mind, and [the card] on which another placed his hand; and who it was who placed it: all without need of a second Person, or of fraud.
S. A. [Its Author] Doct. J. M. A. B. In MADRID: In the Print Shop and Bookstore of D. Pedro Joseph Alonso y Padilla, Chamber Bookseller of His Majesty. He dwells at Saint Thomas Street. In the Year 1740. Q
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F r a n c i s c o Pa p u è
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S c i e n c e w i t h o u t Fa l l a c y
MAGIC
T R I C K VIII. TO A S C E RTA I N T H E C A R D taken by a person from the whole deck.
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aving established the supposition that a Cascarela deck 11 consists of a hundred twenty-two points [sic],12 not including the face cards, since in themselves they do not depict anything, there is no doubt that when the tens [i.e., units of ten] are removed from it, two points remain; so if you hand someone the deck and this person removes a card from it, it can be demonstrated of necessity, when the tens or any other number is removed, to demonstrate which one it is, because of how many [points] are missing up to the completion of the twelve. I will suppose, for example, [that] they took a five; so you go on counting by tens in such a way that they do not know what you are doing. I will suppose four, and seven [are] eleven; discard the ten and go on to count[, starting] with the one that remains to you, as quickly as you can, for it is Ânecessary,
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