Edmé-Gilles Guyot (1706–1786) was a French mail clerk,[1] physician, postmaster, cartographer, inventor and author on the subject of mathematics, physics and magic.
His developments into the apparent appearance of ghosts, using the projection of a figure into smoke, helped to create the technology and techniques used in phantasmagoria.
Manufacturer of conjuring apparatus and scientific instruments, Guyot was accused[2] of exploiting and revealing the tricks used at the time by magicians and science populizers like Nicolas-Philippe Ledru and François Pelletier.
[8] Guyot's four part book Nouvelles recreations physiques et mathematiques featured descriptions of experiments and examples of how various innovative mathematical and magical tricks could be performed.
[10] The book was adapted into English by William Hooper, under the title Rational Recreations being released in 1774 without credit to Guyot.