author

Samuel Rid

Best known for writing about rogues, cheats, and stage magic in early 17th-century England, this elusive Jacobean writer left behind books that feel part social history, part lively expose. Even basic details of his life are uncertain, which only adds to the intrigue around his work.

1 Audiobook

The Art of Iugling or Legerdemaine Wherein is Deciphered All the Conueyances of Legerdemaine and Iugling, How They Are Effected, and Wherin They Chiefly Consist; Cautions to Beware of Cheating at Cardes and Dice, the Detection of the Beggerly Art of Alcumistry, and the Foppery of Foolish Cousoning Charmes, All Tending to Mirth and Recreation, Especially for Those That Desire to Haue the Insight and Priuate Practise Thereof

The Art of Iugling or Legerdemaine Wherein is Deciphered All the Conueyances of Legerdemaine and Iugling, How They Are Effected, and Wherin They Chiefly Consist; Cautions to Beware of Cheating at Cardes and Dice, the Detection of the Beggerly Art of Alcumistry, and the Foppery of Foolish Cousoning Charmes, All Tending to Mirth and Recreation, Especially for Those That Desire to Haue the Insight and Priuate Practise Thereof

by Samuel Rid

About the author

Samuel Rid was an English writer active in the early 1600s, sometimes identified by the initials S. R. He is associated with Martin Markall, Beadle of Bridewell (published in 1608 or 1610) and The Art of Jugling or Legerdemaine (1612), a work about trickery, sleight of hand, cheating, and popular entertainment.

His writing belongs to the world of Jacobean rogue literature, a genre fascinated by vagrants, con artists, and the edges of city life. That makes his books interesting not just as curiosities, but as glimpses into the fears, amusements, and street culture of early modern England.

Very little is firmly known about Rid himself, and even some attributions of his works have been debated. Because of that, he remains more visible through his vivid subjects than through his personal story.