Robert Harbin

From Academic Kids

Robert Harbin (born Ned Williams in South Africa) (1908 - January 12, 1978) was a British magician and writer.

Contents

2.1 On origami
2.2 On magic
2.3 Other subjects

Career

Harbin was the first British illusionist to move from stage performing to television, with his own show which began in 1940. He developed a number of new tricks, including the "Neon Light" and the now ubiquitous "Zig-Zag Girl" (1953) illusions.

In about 1952 Harbin appeared in a minor part as a magician in the film The Limping Man, produced by Cy Enfield. In 1953, Harbin and a friend of Enfield, Gershon Legman (1917-1999), discovered a common interest in the Japanese art of paper-folding. Harbin wrote many books on the subject, beginning with Paper Magic in 1965, and was the first President of the British Origami Society. He was the first Westerner to use the word origami for this art-form. He also presented a series of origami programmes for Independent Television in its "Look-In" shows for children in the 1970s.

His grave is in Golders Green Crematorium in London.

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Bibliography

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On origami

Have Fun with Origami, Severn Ho., 1977, ISBN 0727802259
Have Fun with Origami, Independent Television, 1975, ISBN 0900727268
More Origami, Hodder, 1971, ISBN 0340153849
New Adventures in Origami, 1982, Harper & Row, ISBN 0064635554
Origami: Art of Paper Folding, Coronet, 1969, ISBN 0340109025
Origami: Art of Paper Folding, Coronet Books/Hodder, 1972, ISBN 034016655X
Origami: The Art of Paperfolding, HarperPerennial, 1992, ISBN 0060922699
Origami: Art of Paper Folding (Illustrated Teach Yourself), Picture Knight, 1975, ISBN 0340193816
Origami: Art of Paper Folding (Coronet Books), Hodder Headline Australia, 1977, ISBN 0340218223
Origami Step by Step, Hamlyn, 1974, ISBN 0600381099
Origami (Teach Yourself), NTC Publishing, 1992, ISBN 0844239356
Origami A/H, Hodder Arnold, 1976, ISBN 0340279508
Secrets of Origami: The Japanese Art of Paper Folding, Dover, 1997, ISBN 0486297071
Secrets of Origami, old and new: The Japanese art of paper-folding, Oldbourne, 1964, ISBN B0000CM4YW
Teach Yourself Origami, Teach Yourself Books, 2003, ISBN 0071419799
Teach Yourself Origami, Hodder, 1968, ISBN 0340059729; 1992 reprint ISBN 0340565276; 2003 reprint ISBN 0340860081
Origami: Art of Paper Folding (Teach Yourself), Hodder, 1973, ISBN 0340166460
Paper Folding Fun, Oldbourne, 1960, ISBN B0000CKUYQ
Paper Magic, Oldbourne, ISBN 0356010139
Paper Magic: The art of paper folding, Oldbourne, 1956, ISBN B0000CJG8R
Secrets of Origami, Octopus, 1972, ISBN 0706400054