Magical Spot the Difference! - Which Person is Chicago Based Mentalist Ross Johnson & which is the Late Trevor Dawson former Editor of Manchester Magic Club The Order of the Magi's monthly Magazine?
Also discover more about Books Trevor Dawson wrote, his contributions to the World of Magic and how he helped current Magi Ent's Officer Jonathan Royle get into the Second-Hand Magic Book Business
Pictured above is the Late Magician & Order of the Magi Member Trevor Dawson
and pictured below is Chicago, USA based Mentalist & Mind Reader Ross Johnson
who I have always thought looks a lot like Trevor and vice versa
To be clear the picture above is Ross Johnson the American Mentalist & Mind Magician whereas this next picture below is of the Late Trevor Dawson pictured with the book he wrote about Charles Dickens.
And just for fun and so you can hopefully see what I always noticed, namely that Trevor had a look of American Mentalist Ross Johnson, here is another picture of Ross Johnson
Admittedly if you look at some of the more up to date photographs on Ross Johnson’s own website of https://rossjohnsonlive.com/ the apparent resemblance is harder to see but none the less I always told Trevor that I thought he was a Ross Johnson Look a like!
Trevor Dawson (1934–2017) was a prominent British amateur magician, magic historian, lecturer, author, and collector who led a fascinating "double life" in Lancashire, England. Professionally, he was a well-known chartered surveyor who founded Trevor Dawson Commercial Property Consultants in 1989.
However, within the magic community, he was highly respected for his deep knowledge of conjuring history and sleight of hand.
Magic Career and Leadership
Society Presidency: He served as the Centenary President of the Modern Mystic League, a historic magic society based in Blackburn.
Performance Style: He was a skilled performer of both close-up magic (specialising in cards and coins) and comedy cabaret stage magic.
Lecturer & Historian: He frequently travelled to deliver lectures to magic circles, sharing his lifetime of insights into classical routines and historical illusionists.
Authorship and Literary Work
Dawson authored and compiled significant literature dedicated to preserving the history and mechanics of magic:
Signor Arvi: The Forgotten Illusionist: Published in 2015, this historical book focused on the life of a lesser-known music hall illusionist.
The Magic of Trevor Dawson: Compiled posthumously by Roger Woods and Brian Lead, this 565-page compilation serves as a comprehensive record of his original moves, card sleights, coin effects, and lecture notes.
EBOOK = https://www.lybrary.com/the-magic-of-trevor-dawson-p-927606.html
REAL HARDBACK BOOK = https://www.lulu.com/shop/roger-woods/the-magic-of-trevor-dawson/hardcover/product-e7n476y.html?page=1&pageSize=4
The Trevor Dawson Collection
Dawson was an avid collector of 19th and early 20th-century magic ephemera, rare books, and vintage props. Following his passing, his massive historical estate—which included rare Will Goldston locked books, vintage magic show programmes, and apparatus—was sold at a dedicated auction through Lyon & Turnbull Auctioneers.
Published in 1983 by The Supreme Magic Company in Bideford Devon, PHONEY is a powerful piece of Mentalism using a telephone directory that was invented by Trevor.
The 2012 book Charles Dickens: Conjurer, Mesmerist and Showman, was also written by British magical historian, magician, and former Lancashire commercial property executive Trevor Dawson
The work explores the author’s lifelong obsession with stage magic, mesmerism, and the occult. Key elements discussed in the book include:
Passion for Magic: Dawson details how Dickens possessed an intense, deep-rooted fascination with illusion, frequently performing tricks for friends and family.
Interest in Mesmerism: The book highlights how Dickens practiced as an amateur mesmerist, believing he could heal and influence others using magnetism.
Theatrical Showmanship: It frames Dickens not just as a literary giant, but as an ultimate showman whose public readings and character creations were heavily influenced by his theatrical persona
Mesmerism, founded by Franz Anton Mesmer, evolved into modern hypnosis through a shift from mystical beliefs to psychological understanding, significantly impacting psychotherapy and therapeutic practices.
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) introduced the concept of animal magnetism, proposing that an invisible fluid could be manipulated to influence health. He believed that imbalances in this fluid caused physical and mental ailments, and he used techniques such as magnetic passes to restore balance. His practices often induced trance-like states in patients, which he considered essential for healing.
Evolution into Hypnosis
As mesmerism gained popularity, it faced criticism from the medical establishment, leading to a division among practitioners. Some, known as fluidists, maintained the belief in the magnetic fluid, while others, called animists, sought psychological explanations for the observed effects. This debate laid the groundwork for the transition to hypnosis, which began to focus more on the power of suggestion and psychological processes rather than mystical forces.
Many believe that The term hypnosis was coined by James Braid in the 1840s, who rejected Mesmer’s theories of magnetic fluids. Braid recognized hypnosis as a natural state of focused attention and developed techniques for inducing trance through suggestion and eye fixation. His work helped legitimize hypnosis as a therapeutic tool, paving the way for its acceptance in medical practice.
However the truth is that the term Hypnosis was not coined in Circa 1845 by Braid but rather around 25 years earlier in Circa 1820 by Baron Ettienne De Felix De Henin De Cuvillers as per -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_F%C3%A9lix_d%27Henin_de_Cuvillers
Sadly I did not discover this until after Trevor Dawson passed away in 2017 and so his book on Charles Dickens which I spoke to him about at length contains (as do many books on the subject) inaccurate information in relation to who truly coined the term Hypnosis and other “hyp” prefix related words and terms.
The video below explains more about the true History of the term HYPNOSIS
I knew Trevor for many, many years, decades in fact, and in the final few years before he passed away he decided to start selling off some of what was arguably one of the World’s Biggest Private Magic, Mentalism & Allied Arts Book Collections.
He had literally tens of thousands of books and for thousands of these titles he had two or even multiple copies and different editions, often having the 1st Edition Paperback and hardback versions of each in his collection.
He asked my advice on selling them via the popular auction site Ebay and after several conversations about it, it was finally agreed that I would buy several hundred books along with several hundred manuscripts off him, I would then sell them on Ebay and as long as I made a profit that justified my time listing everything and then fulfilling the orders I would return to him to buy another several hundred books along with several hundred manuscripts off him.
Well it turned out that many of the pamphlet’s & lecture note almost leaflet style publications were “collectors items” and went for huge sums of money and the books he had sold to me sold rapidly as well.
Within the space of less than 2 months I had sold all 300+ Books along with all 300+
pamphlets & manuscripts and was several thousand pounds into profit!
So needless to say I told Trevor it had been a successful venture and he happily sold me another lot of books and pamphlets on the same basis.
This continued approximately every 2 to 3 months over a period of several years and during that time I realistically bought Several thousand books along with another several thousand pamphlets and lecture note style publications from Trevor.
I then sold these on via Ebay and so the cycle continued…
until Sadly on 14th July 2017, aged 82 Trevor Dawson passed away as reported in the Local Burnley Express newspaper here
https://www.burnleyexpress.net/lifestyle/homes-and-gardens/east-lancashire-property-boss-and-magician-dies-844927
And here is how his friend Roger Wood’s covered it for Magic-Week
https://magicweek.co.uk/magic_articles/article_trevor_dawson.htm
From which I quote:
Trevor was a great enthusiast of magic, writer, lecturer, historian and collector and he loved sharing his collections with others of like mind. He regularly attended collectors’ conferences in the United States and abroad.
He published two books ‘Charles Dickens Conjurer, Mesmerist and Showman’ and ‘Signor Arvi: The Forgotten Illusionist’ and various lecture notes and had a ‘One Man Parade’ in the IBM ‘Linking Ring’ in August 2010 with some twenty items.
He gave many talks and lectures. He performed six times at the early Blackpool Conventions. He wrote columns for various magazines including recently the ‘Gallery of Master Magicians’ in the British Ring ‘Key Ring’ monthly.
He was an Order of Merlin member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle and a member of the Society of American Magicians.
He was also a life member of the Order of the Magi where he edited our club magazine the ‘Magi’ for many years.
You can join the ORDER OF THE MAGI where Trevor was a Life member and long term Editor of our magazine here - https://www.orderofthemagi.co.uk/membership
After that some elements of his massive collection went into Magic Auctions at various Magic Clubs such as “The Modern Mystic League”, some elements went into
UK Auction houses such as https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/auctions/rare-books-manuscripts-maps-and-photographs-including-the-trevor-dawson-magic-collection-613/lot/171 and some went into Specialist High End Magic Auctions such as his First Edition copy of The Discovery of Witchcraft and other rare treasures which he has collected over the decades.
For a short while I continued to source more stock by way of bundles of books from various Magic Auctions and sold them individually at a profit on Ebay, but when I moved house in August 2021 I decided to bring my online Second-Hand Magic,
Mentalism & Allied Arts Book business to an end.
I’ll always be grateful to Trevor Dawson though for being so fair with me on the prices and supplying me things in such a manner that it was very worth my while to take the time listing the items for sale on ebay and fulfilling all the orders.
It can be stated with certainty that Trevor Dawson was a very clever man indeed, nobody’s fool and he knew exactly what his books were worth.
He seemed happy however to give me such a good deal as it helped him get all the doubles, triples and sometimes even more duplicate copies than that of a book out of his storage library as he always said to me he just never had the time to do it himself.
Here is how the Lancashire Telegraph reported on Trevors passing:
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/15427632.East_Lancashire_property_boss_and_magician_dies/
It is also interesting to note that on page 53 of the book MAGI MAGORIA which was published by The Supreme Magic Company in 1978 there is a trick explained called Dead-Eye Dick (Trevor Dawson): four half-cigarettes assemble to one corner under covers.
Trevor also founded the hugely successful Trevor Dawson Commercial Property Consultants which continues to thrive to this day https://www.tdawson.co.uk/
