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{{Infobox book
[[File: JNHilliard.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ John Northern Hilliard]]]]
| title = Greater Magic
| author          = John Northern Hilliard
| pub_date        = 1938
| publisher      =
| subject        =
| image_file      = HilliardgGeaterMagicKaufman.jpg
| image_size      =
| image_caption  =
| editor          = Carl W. Jones
| illustrator    = Harlan Tarbell
| language        = English
| pages          =
| isbn            =
| series          =
| preceded_by    =
| followed_by    =
| gbooks          = <!-- google books ID -->
}}
[[Greater Magic]]: ''A Practical Treatise On Modern Magic'' by [[John Northern Hilliard]] was a book of his manuscripts and notes were edited by [[Carl W. Jones]] and [[Jean Hugard]]
Dedicated to Angelo Lewis ([[Professor Hoffmann]]), author of [[Modern Magic]], it was released in 1938 as an encyclopedia of magic intended specifically for magicians, not the general public. It was only distributed and advertised within the conjuring world. It covers magic with cards, silks, billiard balls, sponge balls, cups & balls, coins, cigarettes and cigars, bills, ropes, the linking rings, mentalism, magic squares, apparatus magic, stage illusions, and more.
In, 1932 [[Carl W. Jones]] came up with the title "Greater Magic". Hilliard loved the title, telling Jones to copyright it right away. Over the next three years Hilliard kept working on the book until his sudden death in 1935. Only a third of the book was complete, with a huge amount of material still residing in Hilliard's notebooks.


In the 1990s, a box full of old magic catalogs was sold at an auction in middle America. At the bottom of this box, and not even listed in the contents, were two old notebooks with hundreds of typed pages in brown leatherette bindings. They were the lost notebooks of [[John Northern Hilliard]].  
'''John Northern Hilliard''' (1872 - 1935) was a Rochester newspaper man  and clever amateur magician.


[[Greater Magic|Read more on the history of Greater Magic...]]
== Biography ==
Hilliard was dramatic critic with The Chicago Herald and later on the staff of The Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express. After moving to New York, he met [[Howard Thurston]] while a reporter on The New York World and became interested in magic. John was credited with securing the master magician with his first engagement on the stage. Several years later Thurston induced Hilliard to give up his newspaper work and become his personal representative.
 
With the urging of [[Floyd G. Thayer]], John starting writing for [[Thayer's Magical Bulletin]] magazine. In 1925, Hilliard became an advance man for The Thurston show. During this time he accumulated notes on what he was learning about magic. In 1932, Carl Waring Jones urged him to turn his notes into a book, offering to publish it. But Hilliard suddenly died of a heart attack in 1935 while in a hotel room in Indianapolis.
 
[[John Northern Hilliard|Read more about John Northern Hilliard…]]

Latest revision as of 09:23, 20 February 2026

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John Northern Hilliard (1872 - 1935) was a Rochester newspaper man and clever amateur magician.

Biography

Hilliard was dramatic critic with The Chicago Herald and later on the staff of The Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express. After moving to New York, he met Howard Thurston while a reporter on The New York World and became interested in magic. John was credited with securing the master magician with his first engagement on the stage. Several years later Thurston induced Hilliard to give up his newspaper work and become his personal representative.

With the urging of Floyd G. Thayer, John starting writing for Thayer's Magical Bulletin magazine. In 1925, Hilliard became an advance man for The Thurston show. During this time he accumulated notes on what he was learning about magic. In 1932, Carl Waring Jones urged him to turn his notes into a book, offering to publish it. But Hilliard suddenly died of a heart attack in 1935 while in a hotel room in Indianapolis.

Read more about John Northern Hilliard…