Stewart James (May 14, 1908 – November 5, 1996) was a Canadian postman who became one of magic's most prolific inventors.^[1] He spent most of his life in Courtright, Ontario.^[2]

Biography

Stewart James was highly respected for his creativity and invention of magic tricks; inventions of James's are used by many magicians despite his low name recognition^[3]: 265 Martin Gardner described him as "a magician who has probably devised more high-quality mathematical card tricks than anyone who ever lived".^[4]: 35 James ran a publishing company named Jogestja, Ltd.

Books

• One More Thought on Cards (1955)
• Compiled and edited the Abbott Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks
  • Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, Vol. 1 (1941)
  • Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, Vol. 2 (1968)
  • Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, Vol. 3 (1980)
• Stewart James in Print: The First 50 Years (1989), edited by P. Howard Lyons and Allan Slaight
• The James File, Vol. 1 and 2 (2000) by Allan Slaight, contains nearly 1700 pages of Stewart James's magic.
• The Essential Stewart James (2007)

Awards

• The Academy of Magical Arts Creative Fellowship (1981)^[5]