Hugard, Jean (Gerard Rodney Boyce). Hugard the Magician. Melbourne & Sydney: Syd Day the Printer, ca. 1920. Handsome bust portrait lithograph of the great Australian magician. 25 ½ x 36". Margins restored and trimmed, old folds visible; B. Rare. Few modern magicians realize that Hugard was a performing magician before he settled in New York and became the doyen of modern magic writers. In his early years, he presented an elaborate stage show that featured a daring bullet catch among other spectacular feats. After working in and around New York starting in the 1920s, he settled in to a life as a chronicler of many of magic’s most famous secrets, writing or co-authoring some of the most important works in the literature. From his pen sprang seminal works including The Royal Road to Card Magic, Expert Card Technique, Hugard’s Magic Monthly, and, at least in part, the monumental classic Greater Magic.