In 1910, Magic Circle members would have been forgiven for thinking that they were being subjected to a belated April Fool’s prank when David Devant, the first president of the organization, was expelled for exposing magical secrets.
In fact his rejection by the club was all too real, the result of an exposure controversy that had been bubbling away for the best part of two years. No doubt the situation was particularly awkward for Nevil Maskelyne, the then president of The Circle whose father was Devant’s business partner and who coauthored Our Magic with Devant. Maskelyne even attempted to avoid the meetings in which Devant’s expulsion was discussed by the club’s governing body.
Devant was readmitted to The Magic Circle later in the year.
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