Ozanam's Mathematical Recreations: the bestseller that described the game of cups

In the early 1730s, a young Jean-Jacques Rousseau wanted to make invisible ink by following a book of scientific recreations. The bottle exploded in his face and the writer remained blind for more than six weeks, as he recounts in his Confessions. The book in question is that of Ozanam, one of the greatest bestsellers of the Enlightenment century.

Jacques Ozanam (1640-1718) is a French mathematician, author of the Mathematical and Physical Recreations, published in 1694 and reprinted for over a century. For the history of magic, this book counts because its 1723 edition contains a chapter on "gibecière tricks", added after his death, which gives the first published description in French of the shell game and served as a reference for about fifty years.

This article follows the history of this chapter, from its birth to its removal in 1778, according to the study by Thibaut Rioult and Pierre Taillefer published in Le Vieux Papier (No. 428, 2018) and the work of William Kalush and Stephen Minch on the influence of Ozanam.

Jacques Ozanam, mathematician and prolific author

Ozanam was admitted in 1707, at 66 years old, as a "student" to the Royal Academy of Sciences, then as an associate member in 1711. At his death, in 1718, Fontenelle, perpetual secretary of the Academy, dedicated an eulogy to him. We learn about his youthful passion for games and the singular rhythm of his occupations: mathematics professor for foreigners living in Paris in times of peace, writer in times of war.

1694: mathematical recreations, not yet magic

In 1694, Ozanam published in two volumes his Mathematical and Physical Recreations, as a pedagogical supplement to his Mathematical Dictionary (1691) and his Course of Mathematics (1693). He extends an already rich tradition, notably that of the problems of Claude-Gaspard Bachet (1612), whom he cites in his preface, and Jean Leurechon (1624). This first edition contains a few mathematical card divination tricks, but no real sleight-of-hand trick based on trickery or manipulations.

The book enjoyed immediate success and many expanded editions. It is actually to his recipe for invisible ink that Rousseau refers in the anecdote that opens this article. To extend the mathematical path, our article on the creation of a magic trick from a mathematical principle shows how this tradition continues.

1723: the fourth volume and the gibecière tricks

Five years after Ozanam's death, a revised and expanded edition appeared in four volumes. The first three bear the name of "the late Mr. Ozanam", the fourth, entirely new, cites no author. After developments on phosphors and perpetual lamps, it contains a chapter on gibecière tricks, named after the bag that sleight-of-hand artists wore around their waist. It is the only chapter abundantly illustrated in this volume: fourteen specially engraved plates, including a plate of the shell game.

This chapter is of great quality. It contains the first published description in French of the shell game, more complete and more modern than previous English descriptions. A manuscript from the mid-17th century, La Magie du Pont-Neuf, gives an even older description, but it remained unknown to the general public until its recent edition.

A lay author who sought to understand

The author of these descriptions was probably not a professional. Regarding the trick of the cord on a stick, he explains that he searched in vain for someone to teach it to him and that he finally found it himself. Rioult and Taillefer see this as one of the reasons for the quality of the whole: a curious and observant novice more easily reflects the real repertoire of the sleight-of-hand artists of his time than a professional, who might not have revealed all the passes of the shell game. This is a pattern we find in Reginald Scot, a non-specialist who had received the secrets of a French sleight-of-hand artist for his 1584 chapter. Our article on the defense of Reginald Scot revisits this book.

Who was Martin Grandin, the Jansenist publisher?

The 1723 volume is attributed from the beginning to a certain Grandin, whom the Journal des sçavans, in 1724, designates as a publisher in the sense of a scientific publisher, as opposed to the commercial publisher, Jombert. It is Martin Grandin, a bachelor in theology and professor of philosophy for fifteen years at the college of Navarre. A follower of Descartes, he participated in 1737 in the competition of the Academy of Sciences on the nature of fire, won by Euler.

His career ends abruptly in 1739: opposed to the Unigenitus bull, he is part of the Jansenists excluded from the college by letter of cachet. This is the last time we hear of him.

A reference chapter for fifty years

Seven editions of the Recreations, between 1723 and 1770, contain the chapter, which remains unchanged from one edition to another. As some come out of the same press with different title pages, we actually only count four distinct printings. For half a century, it is the reference work in French on sleight-of-hand.

Its influence extends beyond France. We find it in several European treatises of the middle of the century: Enganos a ojos vistas (1733) by Pablo Minguet in Spain, I Giochi numerici (1747) by Giuseppe Antonio Alberti in Italy and the Trésor des jeux (1759) by Carlo Antonio in Switzerland. A painting by Philippe Mercier, L'Escamoteur (around 1720, Louvre Museum), presents the point of view of a painter placed behind a shell game player, facing a bourgeois audience: it gives an idea of the atmosphere of the salon sessions at the time of the first publication. This universe of fairground sleight-of-hand artists is also that of our article on the magic of fairgrounds.

1778: Montucla removes the gibecière tricks

After 1770, the Recreations are severely reworked by the mathematician Jean-Étienne Montucla, who signs the new 1778 edition with the initials "M. de C. G. F.". The work is hailed by critics, but the chapter on gibecière tricks disappears. In his preface, Montucla calls the fourth volume a pitiful compilation, without explicitly citing the sleight-of-hand chapter.

Several explanations are possible. Montucla probably wanted to purge the work of its futilities to make it worthy of learned readers. The publication, from 1769, of the Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques by Guyot could also have relegated the old tricks of Grandin into the shadows. Rioult and Taillefer finally advance a bolder hypothesis: Grandin was a Jansenist and Montucla, trained by the Jesuits, would have wanted to erase the work of a religious and political adversary.

What the history of Ozanam teaches today's magicians

This story shows that a book of magic written by a non-magician can become the main source of an entire repertoire, and that a reference text can disappear from one edition to another for reasons that have nothing to do with magic. It also reminds us that the milieu of Parisian sleight-of-hand artists of the early 18th century remains poorly known: Rioult and Taillefer call for a more in-depth investigation to identify the artists who could have inspired Grandin. To dive into this era, our article on one of the oldest magic books in French and the book Le Paysan de Nord-Hollande, dedicated to an 18th-century illusionist, are two entry points.

Frequently asked questions about Ozanam and his Recreations

Who was Jacques Ozanam?

A French mathematician (1640-1718), professor and prolific author, associate member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. His Mathematical and Physical Recreations (1694) were an 18th-century bestseller.

Is Ozanam the author of the gibecière tricks?

No. The chapter appears in an edition after his death (1723), in the fourth volume, and it is attributed by default to the scientific publisher Martin Grandin.

What is the oldest French text on the shell game?

The first published description is that of the Recreations of 1723. A manuscript from the mid-17th century, La Magie du Pont-Neuf, gives an older description, which remained unpublished until its 2015 edition.

Why did Montucla remove this chapter?

We do not know for certain. The advanced explanations are the desire to give the work a scientific appearance, the competition of Guyot's work and, according to a bolder hypothesis, a conflict between Jesuits and Jansenists.

An erased chapter, a rediscovered history

The chapter on gibecière tricks disappeared from the Recreations in 1778, but it left its mark in the European treatises that copied it. By rereading it today, we discover a panorama of the repertoire of sleight-of-hand artists of the early 18th century, described by a curious observer rather than a professional of secrets.