Maskelyne and Cooke reopened Egyptian Hall for the winter season on this day in 1886, and Buatier de Kolta and Madame de Kolta introduced a novelty: Modern Black Magic. It was the first use of Black Art in England. De Kolta produced a hand floating in the air, followed by the sudden appearance of his wife in a white Grecian robe. The secret, a judicious combination of black scenery, had been patented by the magician just nine days earlier. Max Auzinger, the German actor and magician, had already introduced the secret in Germany, and he insisted that de Kolta had seen his act and copied it. But de Kolta’s use of Black Art was so limited—so overly cautious in this premiere—that he may have been tiptoeing around a new discovery.
