Magic Metamorphosis

• a fascinating work on conjuring history


• the new standard work on blow books with over 300 previously unknown illustrations


• a book about a unique relic of baroque entertainment culture


• a facsimile of a unique blow book from the seventeenth century

Thomas Stauss discovered a unique picture album (Disegni Antichi Bizzarri, produced in Italy at around 1650) in Paris at the end of the 1990s. Magic Metamorphosis - a new monograph on picture transformation books ('blow books') - consists of two volumes in a slipcase: a high-quality facsimile reproduction of the 17^th-century picture album, and a comprehensive, richly illustrated explanatory volume. The facsimile volume includes the 'indexing' necessary to demonstrate its original function as a blow book.

The album's drawings are fascinating-a bizarre mixture of the most diverse motifs: animals, flowers, soldiers, fire-breathing devils and dragons. The seemingly illogical sequence of the individual images also appears bizarre. What purpose should the volume serve?

The blow book (also: picture transformation book, flick book, and better known as a magic colouring book in its modern variations) is a classic magic trick that has been performed for hundreds of years. As early as the 17th century, it was customary for the magician to get a spectator to blow on the book during the performance--a kind of magical gesture. The term 'blow book', which is most commonly used in English-speaking countries today, can be traced back to this gesture. In historical times, blow books were used in performances everywhere and in all social circles: on festive occasions in royal and princely houses, at fairs, in taverns and on the street.

A transformation or blow book is a kind of "trick book" composed of repeated sequences of pictures that allow an optical illusion or facilitate the performance of an amazing magic trick. When leafing through the transformation book, the performer can precisely manipulate the book and thus show the audience a desired picture motif or make it disappear: several pages are unpainted, so that the blow book can also be seemingly empty - a magical effect.