Tony Corinda

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Tony Corinda is an English magic dealer and businessman who is noted by magicians for having written the book Thirteen Steps To Mentalism. Corinda has not made his birthdate or birthplace public, but his birth year is believed to be about 1931.

In the 1950's and 1960's he had at least two shops in London; prior to this, Corinda had a magic studio where he sold magic tricks, mostly with a mentalist flavour for which he became best known. The Magic Shop in Tottenham Court Road was originally run by Dick Chavel, and later taken over by Corinda. This store was at street level so catered mainly to the lay public, so many of the items sold were either practical jokes or beginners' tricks, but other items and small illusions for semi-professional magicians and hobbyists were also sold over the counter.

Around the same period, Corinda had the magic concession in Hamleys Toy Shop in Regent Street. This was located in the basement of the store and was run for a period by Ali Bongo, who also demonstrated magic at the Tottenham Court Road location.

He is living/lived in retirement in the UK.

[edit] Thirteen Steps to Mentalism

Corinda authored Thirteen Steps To Mentalism, which was originally brought out as 13 separate booklets, each one dealing with a different aspect of Mentalism or an allied art. Jon Tremaine did much of the artwork as did Eric Mason.

The Thirteen Steps to Mentalism was later produced as a hardcover bound volume by Harry Clarke, a printer who produced many other books for magic studios at that time.