Maskelyne: The Man Who Made Magic Respectable

Victorian England was obsessed with building institutions — museums, concert halls, scientific societies — each one making the argument that its subject deserved to be taken seriously. John Nevil Maskelyne understood that magic needed exactly the same thing. In this essay, I explore how Egyptian Hall became more than a theatre — and why the story of what Maskelyne built there still matters for anyone who thinks seriously about magic as an art form.