ORIGINS OF "MAGICANA" 1953 -

New Zealand's first magic magazine was the original "Te Tohunga", published in the 1920s. Twenty two issues were produced. The name "Te Tohunga" returned in 1939.

Miriam Peppler of the Canterbury Society of Magicians edited "Conjuring Chatter" which ran from December 1943 until October 1946. Forty-one issues of "Swami" were produced by Stewart's Studio of Magic between 1945 and June 1948.

Jack Wood's "Magic Parade" was followed by his quarterly "Magic Parade Newsletter".

Other magazines included "The Oracle", from the Wairarapa, "Cauldron Calling" from Arthur Saunders, the N.Z.S.M Newsletter, El Gregoe's Newssheet and another produced by Paul Romhany. The Magic NZ e-zine goes from strength to strength.

Quoting from "Magicana" No.1, January-February 1953 - "tis indeed a pleasure for the Waikato Society of Magicians to say "hello" and wish all fellow magicians a bright and prosperous New year through the medium of their first issue of your new MAGICANA magazine First of all, let me state quite plainly, that, although we are editing and publishing this magazine as a club, we have no intention of ramming the Waikato Society or its views down readers' throats. We are only here to see that it gets printed, and in doing so, to assure that it contains a feast of material suitable for everyone.

One thing you might ask and that is, "how did these Waikato blokes come to start such a magazine?". Well, it started through a general discussion concerning the closing down of "Magic Parade", when one bright spark remembered that our Constitution contained a clause, which states that our aim as a Society is to help and foster the Art of magic and its Allied Arts. This brought forth further discussion and enquiries, until at length a Magazine Committee was formed to go into matters. This was done, and after a great deal of hard work plus the generous co-operation of Jack Wood we have

at last produced the goods."

Magicana Editors - Harold Chandler 1953-1955, Colin Smith 1955-1980, Jim Reilly 1980-2000 and Michael Woolf 2000-