Isaac Fawkes

Isaac Fawkes (1675?–1732) (also spelt Fawks, Fawxs, Fauks and Faux) was an English conjurer and showman. The first record of Fawkes was an appearance by his son at Southwark Fair in 1722, but an advertisement of April of the same year boasted that he had performed for George II, so it is likely that he was well known in London before this time. He was one of the earliest magicians to present conjuring as an entertainment outside of the traditional fairground setting and by skilful promotion and management of his act he was able to amass both fame and a considerable fortune. His simple entertainment was satirised alongside other popularist amusements by William Hogarth in 1723, but he continued to be patronised by fashionable society until his death in 1732. He formed a close professional relationship with the clock and automata maker Christopher Pinchbeck and from the mid-1720s began to demonstrate Pinchbeck's designs in shows both in their own right and for magical effects in his conjuring act.

Nothing is known of Fawkes before early 1722 when an advertisement appeared announcing that his son would give a performance of tumbling at Southwark Fair, but it is safe to suppose that he was well-established as a performer in London by this time, as in March 1722 he took out an advertisement in which he mentioned his previous performances for George II, in which he demonstrated:

Tricks by Dexterity of Hand, with his Cards, Eggs, Corn, Mice, curious India Birds, and Money...Likewize the surprising Activity of Body perform'd by his Little Boy, of 12 Years of Age...

The 12-year-old boy was Fawkes' own son who had been the tumbler at Southwark earlier in the year and became a regular fixture of Fawkes' show as a "Posture Master" or contortionist. In later announcements Fawkes' bragged that his son was the finest Posture Master in Europe. Because of the popularity of the contortionist act he took on another younger boy to perform a similar act but "all different from what his own boy performs".Ricky Jay, who has researched Fawkes, believe that a piece in the Daily Courant from 1711 may refer to Fawkes as it mentions a posture master and many conjuring tricks that later became staples of Fawkes' show.

Fawkes was not the first fair conjurer and neither was he particularly innovative in his routines (though he did make copious use of the recently invented Egg Bag), but by consciously rejecting the association of conjuring with black magic and mysterious forces and making it clear that his show was not designed to defraud his audience, he was among the first to successfully market his act to fashionable society outside the fairs. Fawkes eschewed the stereotypical voluminous cloak and hat of the traditional fair conjurer and instead presented himself in gentrified dress with a powdered wig and smart suit. His act was squarely presented as entertainment; he emphasised his skills of dexterity and if he did mention the dark forces it was only to mock those of his contemporaries that claimed a connection with the supernatural. The anonymous author of Round About Our Coal Fire or, Christmas Entertainments identified the key to Fawkes' success:

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