As Richard finds out, he also covets a more secret passion -- preserving the history of magic for future generations.

CNN: Quest for magic

Home of the La Maison de la Magie, a museum in Blois dedicated to the history of magic and illusionists, the building plays tribute to clockmaker and magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, one of the most influential magicians of his time.

BBC: A magical, fire-breathing timekeeper in France

Not easily discouraged in our hunt for the magic and history of the post barrel, we began sorting through the piles of postcards.

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She is either going to be magic or one of history's accidents.

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Apple is at a magic moment in its history in terms both of market valuation and market dominance, yet would you really want to replace Steve?

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We are obviously honored to have one of the all-time greats in NBA history, Magic Johnson. (Applause.) Magic did pretty well during his time with the Lakers.

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I've had professors of African-American history on the same day, and it was just magic.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

He bought thousands of books including works on music, mathematics, astronomy, history, geography, magic, theology and philosophy.

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If you look back into the history of Germany or Japan, or the United States, you typically find a period when the Magic Formula is in full effect.

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Wielding a black Magic Marker, he charted the big bang of channel expansion and audience fragmentation that has propelled television history so far, from the age of the three networks, each with a mass audience, to the hundreds of cable channels, each serving a niche audience twenty-four-hour news, food, sports, weather, music and on to the dawning age of Internet video, bringing channels by the tens of thousands.

NEWYORKER: Streaming Dreams