Egyptian Hall

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Description of Egyptian Hall

The Egyptian Hall is located in Piccadilly in London. It was built by G.F. Robinson in 1812.1 The He was hired by William Bullock to show off his collection of materials he had gathered overseas. Egyptian Hall received its name from the fact that it was built in a style reminiscent of the Egyptian style. The hall even had hieroglyphics covering parts of the walls of the building.2 One of the most well-known, and in its time most popular, exhibits at the Egyptian Hall was William Bullock's Museum which contained curiosities for the public from the 'South Sea, Africa, and North and South America.'3 The exhibit arrived in 1809.4 In 1819 Bullock sold the various items in his collection and Giovanni Battista Belzoni took over the space.5 He also had an interesting collection to display this mainly consisted of Egyptian items. He went to the Valley of the King and took the items in his collection from Seti I's tomb. Again this collection was auctioned off in 1822.6 Various people took control after that with less permanent exhibits.7 There were also popular lectures given in the building.8 Most of the exhibits were to intrigue public curiosity and interest. For example, in 1829 the "first" Siamese twins were brought from Siam. After this the John Nevil Maskalyne took control and called the Egyptian Hall "England's Home of Mystery". He focused the Hall on magic and illusions. “The hall was eventually demolished and redeveloped in 1904. It became a building full of offices.9

Why is this site important?

The main importance of the Egyptian Hall to the tour is the presence of John Nevil Maskalyne himself. He bought the hall in order to show off various magical feats and called it London's Home of Mystery. Here he had control over magic acts and demonstrations in the hall and could place it in the public's eye himself. According to one contemporary author looking back at their time there, "Later, when the hall came under the control of the Maskelynes, a more settled policy was adopted and it soon grew famous as England's Home of Mystery. All sorts of clever illusions were staged including the exposition of fraudulent spiritualistic manifestations."10 Maskelyne bought the hall with his friend George Cooke. Maskelyne had been a watchmaker and Cooke had been a cabinet maker, but they decided to start their own enterprise as magicians.11 They started their career by exposing the tricks of other magicians known as the Davenport Brothers who were Americans and "pseudo-spiritualists."12 They began from this point to work their way up in magical society. They created illusions and an automata name Psycho who reportedly play the game whist.13 Maskalyne met another partner at the Egyptian Hall as well. This partner was David Devant He showed films at the Egyptian Hall which he showed him doing magic tricks such as the infamous trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. He became something akin to an employee of Maskalyne and Cooke and took their show from the Egyptian Hall on the road.14 When the Egyptian Hall was shut down in 1905 he actually became a partner and managing director of a new group Maskelyne & Devant for 10 years.15 All this goes to show what the Egyptian Hall meant for magic in London. It showed that it was a true career and that one could work their way up through the system to the top. This is seen both through Maskalyne and Cooke's success in joining the magical field and working their way up to owning a business within it, and Devant's success in working his way up from doing magic, to showing films, to becoming a director of an organization himself. This shows that magic was an upwardly mobile field.

Endnotes

1. www.arthurlloyd.co.uk, "The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London," ArthurLloyd.co.uk, 2017.

2. Edward Walford, Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places, vol. IV, VI vols. (London, England: Cassell, Peter & Galpin, 1873.)., 257

3. Ibid

4. Lucy Inglis, Georgian London: Into the Streets (Penguin UK, 2013).

5. Ibid

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

8. Ronald Mayes, "The Romance of London Theatres'," 1930.

9. Lucy Inglis, Georgian London: Into the Streets (Penguin UK, 2013).

10. Ronald Mayes, "The Romance of London Theatres'," 1930.

11. Edwin A. Dawes, "THE MAGIC SCENE IN BRITAIN IN 1905," Early Popular Visual Culture 5, no. 2 (July 1, 2007): 109–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/17460650701433749.

12. Ibid

13. Ibid

14. Ibid

15. Ibid

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