‘GiSulHak: The Art of Conjuring by Chi-Yong Song,’ Translated, Edited, and Annotated by Won-il Kim

For historians of conjuring, the publication of Korea’s earliest known book of magic secrets must arouse interest. The contents of GiSulHak: The Art of Conjuring will be surprising for conjurers outside Korea, but not in a way one would anticipate. The first surprise is that this earliest Korean conjuring book was published in 1907. When I first read that date, I thought the “9” must be a typographic error. It isn’t.