The Magic Magic Book

Ricky Jay is considered one of history’s greatest slight-of-hand artists. In the first volume of The Magic Magic Book, Jay showed off his erudition by detailing some of the history of magical practice, a subject on which he was a noted scholar. His text also includes how-to instructions on performing some tricks. Jay himself described the second volume as “the most elaborate blow book ever assembled,” with works by artists Jane Hammond, William Wegman, Philip Taaffe, Vija Celmins, and Glenn Ligon.In the mid-1960s, Jay enrolled in Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, with the idea of someday owning a club in Las Vegas. But he spent little time in class, and he never rose above freshman status. He spent most of his time at the Royal Palm Tavern on Dryden Road, practicing shuffles hour after hour on the long wooden bar, perfecting tricks and fleecing customers.It paid off. Jay appeared on the Tonight Show in 1970 while still at Cornell, and before long he was opening at major rock shows. As an actor, he appeared in movies including Tomorrow Never Dies and Boogie Nights and on the TV shows like Deadwood and The X-Files. He also frequently served as a consultant on film, stage, and television projects to inform depictions of magic, tricks, and illusions of all sorts. (“The Art of the Book,” curated by Nancy E. Green and presented at the Johnson Museum July 6-August 4, 2019)