Tilli Gorgon Magic

Tilli Gorgon Magic 📍Edinburgh, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Magician 🪄🃏✨️
Magic + Circus History Nerd 📖🗝
Email or dm me ✉️

Thank you for having me on Saturday at Monster Cabaret 🪄💚🐍So fun being part of a monstrous line-up with Jamie and April ...
04/05/2026

Thank you for having me on Saturday at Monster Cabaret 🪄💚🐍

So fun being part of a monstrous line-up with Jamie and April 🖤
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Thank you to Underground Magic for having me again this week 🪄Sorry not sorry to anyone I blinded with my suit 💚🪩××× ...
24/04/2026

Thank you to Underground Magic for having me again this week 🪄

Sorry not sorry to anyone I blinded with my suit 💚🪩
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I got a few vintage magic posters printed the other day to decorate my flat and thought I’d share some of my finds, beca...
26/02/2026

I got a few vintage magic posters printed the other day to decorate my flat and thought I’d share some of my finds, because they’re far too beautiful not to be seen.

I’d actually been reading 'The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston Versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards' by Jim Steinmeyer right before I found the first poster, which felt oddly meant to be. The poster shows “America’s Greatest Magician” Harry Kellar “investing” Howard Thurston with the Mantle (cloak) of Magic, presenting it as this grand ceremonial passing of authority from one great magician to the next.

And in 1908, that is exactly how it was presented to the public.

But there was more behind it.

Around 1907, Thurston bought Kellar’s entire show for roughly $5,000 to $7,000. That included the illusions, props and rights to the show. Kellar, nearing sixty, was ready to retire. Thurston had the money, the ambition and the stagecraft to step straight into the role of America’s top illusionist.

Before fully stepping away, Kellar toured with Thurston for a season, introducing him as his successor and giving audiences a clear endorsement. Then in May 1908 at Ford’s Opera House in Baltimore, Kellar gave his final performance and ceremonially passed his wand to Thurston on stage.

It was theatrical. It was symbolic. And it was brilliant marketing.

It made Thurston look legitimate, inheriting the mantle from the magician audiences already trusted and admired. It made Kellar’s exit feel graceful, giving the retiring master a proper send-off. And audiences loved the romance of it. Thurston leaned into it too, using the Mantle of Magic imagery again and again in his advertising to show he was the rightful heir, not just the man who bought the show.

That moment later became known as the beginning of the “Royal Dynasty of Magic,” the idea that the mantle (although there was never a physical mantle) would continue to be passed down through generations. The line usually includes Dante, Lee Grabel and today Lance Burton, though the story gets a bit fuzzy and political after Thurston.

And since I’m always asked… why are there so many devils and little whispering imps on magic posters?

Short answer is: In 1894 Kellar put out a poster showing two mischievous imps next to him, almost as if they were whispering the secrets of magic into his ear. That image caught on and other magicians liked the idea so much they started using it too, including Thurston later on. The imps and devil figures didn’t mean people thought the magician literally had supernatural help. It was more about tapping into the Victorian fascination with spiritualism, seances and the unknown and giving the posters a sense of mystery and otherworldliness. So the tiny devils became a kind of visual shorthand for hidden knowledge and magic tricks that are too wild to explain.

I fell down a rabbit hole researching this too, so I’m fairly certain there will be another post purely about devils and imps on magic posters at some point.

Oops 🤭 Vegas here I come 🪄🤩🤘🇺🇲
04/11/2025

Oops 🤭 Vegas here I come 🪄🤩🤘🇺🇲

😮😍🪄!!!!!
31/10/2025

😮😍🪄!!!!!

Edinburgh Fringe 🪄•••
25/09/2025

Edinburgh Fringe 🪄
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She's back 🐍🔥♠️Lil shoot with Maia (.luck_photos on Instagram) 📸×××
24/09/2025

She's back 🐍🔥♠️
Lil shoot with Maia (.luck_photos on Instagram) 📸
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