I can’t recall exactly how I learned of The Quarterly – probably from a friend who also loves small run magic magazines. No matter as I am grateful, it was a delightful publication.
The Quarterly was the brainchild of the award winning magician, Helder Guimarães. It was edited by Dr. Will Houstoun who I was fortunate to see lecture and can attest that he is both a gentleman and a scholar. The layout and design was by Catarina Marques. Contributors to the magazine included Pit Hartling, Denis Behr, Steve Thompson, Harapan Ong, Elliott Terral, Jared Kopf, Ramón Mayrata, Richard Hatch, Roberto Mansilla, Shimpei Katsuragawa and Dave Buck.
Unfortunately The Quarterly lasted only five issues with a run of 500 copies each. I suppose this bodes well for those who seek them out on the second hand market however I don’t think I’ve ever seen copies for sale.
Issue 1 of the Quarterly was released in the winter of 2015. After an Introduction by Helder and an Editorial by Will, the opening essay was the Broken Bough by Jared Kopf. Using James George Frazer’s Golden Bough as a starting point, Jared looks at modern magic with an eye to its ancient origins. A surprising piece for those who know Jared as a card magician and protégée of Bob White but not those who know of his interest in shamanism and the tarot.
Helder’s essay, Winding The Time Machine, offered insight into how he looks at a particular effect and what makes it magical. In what became a regular feature, Denis Behr and Pit Hartling’s Beer, Card Tricks and Orange Juice is a dialogue between the two discussing contributions by Annemann, Le Paul, Elmsley and others. The back and forth is great fun.
Roberto Mansilla lovingly analyzed the work of Rene Lavand in The Image of an Artist. Roberto may be familiar to those who read his column, Artifices, in Genii. He will return to The Quarterly two more times before it ends.
Closing the inaugural edition is Steve Thompson’s Taking a Design Approach to Magic that explains a technique that will help you define your magic goals so that you can create in the most productive way.
I plan on revisiting each of the five issues as I found them to be delightful, informative and thought provoking. While it’s a little sad that there was only five, I am glad that they were released.
