- The reputed first known performance of a conjuring effect (balls) was done by the magician Dedi in ancient Egypt.
(This is disputed as there is nothing in reference to Dedi, specifically in the Westcar Papyrus, to indicate that he performed the cups and balls for anyone.
The famous drawing of two men seemingly performing the cups and balls, from the tomb of Baqet III at Beni Hasan is believed by most experts to show a game using pots[1] or cups[2] but details of the game are unknown.)
- References to magic are abundant in the ancient Greek myths among the classical founding pagan cultures of Europe, connected to the neighbouring Egyptian and Persian ones.
Often centered around women of divine origin, nymphs and priests, from Ariadne to Calypso, Circe to Medea, Hermes to Hecate, magic, divination and necromancy are widespread and intertwined with chthonic Gods and monsters, oracles and heroes.
The growing trading nature of society allowed some street or circus performers to make a living out of old classics such as the cups and balls and in fact more modern ideas such as cheating by short changing via sleights with coins and other small objects.
1584 - Reginald Scot publishes The Discoverie of Witchcraft, a book designed in part to counter the activities of persecutionists, but at the same time revealing many conjuring secrets of the day.
Magic and witchcraft were linked, and many copies of Scot's book were burnt in the early 17th century.
The "father of modern magic", who brought it from the street and circus side shows to an elegant stage or drawing room setting.
Written by Professor Louis Hoffmann (1839–1919) (real name Angelo John Lewis), it was a definitive work on the state of the art of that time.
1886 - Tam Shepherds Trick Shop opened up in Glasgow becoming the oldest magic store in the United Kingdom.
"The Professor" and "The Man That Fooled Houdini", he was born as David Frederick Wingfield Verner in Ottawa.
Selbit performs the first "Sawing in half", something that is, in the present day, synonymous with the art of stage magic.
Circa 1940 - Edward M. Massey invents the finger chopper,[8] which becomes many young magicians' first trick.
Performers who got their start their included Eric DeCamps, Rocco Silano, Johnny Ace Palmer, Jeff McBride and Michael Chaut.
1977 - Marco the Magi presents Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company premieres on February 20 in Beverly, Massachusetts.
1980 - In July, Dorothy Dietrich, in her teens becomes the first, and as of 2019, and the only woman to do the "jinxed" bullet catch in her mouth, often referred to as "the stunt that scared Houdini."
It was done under test conditions at the annual International Brother of Magicians Convention at Point State Park in front of hundreds of paying attendees and the general public.
1994 - The first WWW magic stores appear following the older text type newsgroups and bulletin boards.
1997 - The Masked Magician, Val Valentino, provokes much controversy by exposing magic secrets on major Fox TV specials.