While it is obvious that Hoffmann understood this important truism, many of the magicians who were deeply influenced by his writings over the course of the next century forgot it, and the effectiveness of their performances suffered because of it. «The evening dress of ordinary life» in Victorian times was quite different from that of today, yet the image of the magician in Inverness cape, top hat and tails still persists. Also, the apparatus «of a simple and homely kind» that would seem quite natural in a Victorian drawing room is, in the magic performance of today, so unusual that it gives the appearance of having been created only to produce the desired effect. Yet today there are still many magicians who present their effects on single-leg tables with black velvet drapes, often with gold fringe, a common piece of furniture in Professor Hoffmann's time but totally unknown-outside of magic performances-in the contemporary world. One can imagine that if the good professor were alive today to see the continued use of the props described in his great textbook, he would thoroughly disapprove.

But, granted that Hoffmann's views on performance style (and, unfortunately, his Victorian trappings) have been basic to the magic of the last century, many other things have changed since he wrote his book. In the introduction to Modern Magic, for instance, he describes «two or three appliances, which are of such constant use that they may be said to form the primary stock-in-trade of every conjuror.