J.F. Burrows - Lightning Artist

PDF

Contents are pretty much what title suggests: how to draw sketches very quickly.

This is not magic per se, but demonstrations such as this, along with things like paper folding, hand shadows, chapeaugraphy, etc., were often included in magicians's programs way back when. Many of the old magic books include chapters on such "allied "arts, so it may be of interest to modern readers & collectors, too.

This publication features a unique technique: drawing with smoke.

This book is undated, but judging from photographs, probably dates from the late 1800s. Another book by Burrows, featuring programs of famous magicians of the time, covers the period of about 1860-94, so I assume this book comes from somewhere in that era. This is scan of original.

(The program book is interesting as well, but my copy is a modern, "cleaned-up" html version and thus not of as much interest to collectors, aside from learning what sorts of acts the stars of the day were doing ... there are no explanations, just set lists.)