Canadian Stewart James was the most prolific inventor of magic in the twentieth century. Where most magicians invent a handful of magic routines during the course of their life, Stewart James created over one thousand. His prodigious output has been recorded in two mammoth publications totally over 2,700 pages. James' vast body of work has now been distilled to 50 of his "greatest tricks", The Essential Stewart James.
Allan Slaight, co-editor of Stewart James In Print and author of The James File, asked dozens of Stewart James' aficionados including Max Maven, Michael Weber, Bob Farmer, Stephen Minch, Bill Goodwin, Gordon Bean, David Ben, Roy Walton, Charles Reynolds, Gabe Fajuri, Steve Beam, and Peter Duffie among others, to whittle over 1,000 of James’ creations down to their fifty favourite, in other words, the essential Stewart James.
For those who own the earlier Stewart James tomes (Stewart James In Print: The First Fifty Years and The James File) but are intimated by the size and scope of the material, this book is for you! The Essential Stewart James serves as a tourist guide through the land of James. For those who are encountering this wily Canadian wizard for the first time, this book serves as a primer to the brilliance of the man, his methods and his magic.
By Stewart James, edited by Allan Slaight. Hardbound, 199 pages.
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