Secrets of Magic by Walter Gibson

From the dawn of time , the lure of magic has been felt by men of every race and clime. Man’s awe of natural forces and the unknown inspired a trust that self-appointed wonder workers soon turned to their advantage. Whether they really believed they had special powers or whether they dealt in deliberate deception, their purpose was to win profit or prestige through the admiration of the populace. The early magicians were the scientists of their time. They regarded their closely guarded secrets as a form of true magic. Whenever they used outright trickery their hope was thereby strengthen their reputations as purveyors of the genuinely miraculous. If they believed in their own magic, it was because they shared the ignorance of the people who accepted illusion for reality. Ancient Egypt developed the highest civilization of its day, so it is not surprising that the earliest recorded story of magic should concern the performance of an Egyptian magician, Tchatcha-em-ankh, at the court of King Khufu in the year 3766 B.C. This is recorded in the Westcar payrus, which dates back to 1550 B.C. and is preserved in the British Museum (from the introduction of this book)