Found a fabulous bit of ad copy from the nineteenth century conjurer Ingleby that I'm thinking of stealing:
“…in consequence of his superior excellence in the Art of Deception he has had conferred upon him the title of ‘Emperor of all Conjurers’ by a numerous Assemblage of Gentlemen Amateurs, particularly through the Amazing Trick of Cutting the Fowl’s head off and Restoring it to Life and Animation! For no man knows the real way but himself. He is now, therefore, ad the Head of his Profession, and all Competitors remind him only of the following Fables: The Ass in the LIon’s Skin and The Ox and the Frog.”
Put that on a poster in some Comic Sans and my 2018 will be rockin'.
Special thanks to Sidney Clarke and his Annals of Conjuring.