Bamberg dynasty of magicians.

Since the end of the eighteenth century, this family with the surname Bamberg, delivered six generations of magicians. All members were well-known in their time. Some of them gained international fame. The members of the first five generations were born in the Netherlands.

A series of four articles was published about this dynasty in 2021.

Since 2020, a book about this family is in preparation. First, all available information is being collected, with the aim to make a sort of reference manual available. This will be an extensive document, containing all consulted sources. It will be published in English, probably as a PDF. Once done, a book may appear, written in Dutch and aimed at a broader audience than the manual. The purpose is to avoid that this interesting and memorable family will be forgotten. If there will be sufficient interest, this book can also be made available in English, in time.

Status as per December 2022.

1. Twenty-four of the twenty-six chapters are ready in Dutch; the remaining two are partly finished. The largest chapters are about (1) Tobias Leendert (Theodore) Bamberg, internationally renowned as Okito and (2) his son David Tobias Bamberg, internationally famous as Fu Manchu in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Latin America and Europe.
2. A huge amount of information has been collected so far, in the format of articles, books, photos and other illustrations, and testimonials and other documentation. There are thousands of such sources.
3. We are now in the process of translating the chapters re. 1, and to integrate the information re. 2. This will still take time.
4. Some descendants of this Bamberg family promised to supply more information, illustrations, and/or personal stories, in order to enhance the chapters with a more lifely touch. We hope we still may expects such contributions.
5. The purpose of this page is to show the status of the process and to eventually report about the availability of the output.
6. For additions: see below.

For those interested, further information can be obtained from the author (see menu “Contact”).

Please view a first sample out of the hundreds of illustrations.

Additions:

- (December 2022). The planning slips all the time, because new sources pop up. Such as digital archives of periodicals, like European websites. There are many, among which an Austrian archive, that contain much information about Okito (and his son), as well as an almost complete oveview of the carreer of Okito’s daughter Dorothy, as a star in the Austrian top nightclub “Femina”. With a nice number of good photo’s.
- All 27 chapters are ready in Dutch. Translated so far into English are the chapters of: Magnus David, Rebecca, Kaatje, Simon, Nachman, Emanuel (Emile), Eduard (Edward), Eduard Henri, Dorothy, Marianne and Jules Bamberg.
- (January 2023). The chapter about David Tobias Bamberg, also known as “Papa” Bamberg, is added in English but still needs final editing.
- (February/March 2023). In the process of translating the Dutch version of the chapter about Okito into English and integrating the numerous new findings about him.
- (March 2023). With full cooperation of an American Bamberg descendant, the translated chapters are being edited once more, in order to arrive at a truly English text.
- (April 2023). In the process of translating the Dutch version of the chapter about “Fu Manchu” into English and integrating the numerous new findings about him.
- The final version of chapter 20 (Emile Bamberg) is finished. As mentioned above, the editing of the English language is carried out by an American expert.
- The number of international periodicals which are (being) digitalized is growing rapidly. A few samples will be shown in the Reference Book, however, it will require a separate effort to include every hit. Yet, such hits will eventually refine the time tables of specifically Okito and Fu Manchu. However, priority is given now to the books before continuing that reseach. Its results may be published later on this website.
- (May 2023). Start with final version of chapter 17 about Okito: translation into English, integration of new sources and conversion into PDF chapter.
- (August 2023). Work on Okito is in progress. Large additional sources are being integrated into the text. At the same time, new extensive sources are popping up and will be added as well.
- Final editing in English is ready for chapters 15 (Rebecca), 16 (Kaatje) and 22 (Eduard), siblings of Okito. However, a new source will still be added to chapter 15 and small items to the other chapters.
- (September 2023). Chapter 19 (Nachman Nardus), brother of Okito is finished.
- (October 2023). With chapters 18 (Simon) and 21 (Jacques) the English versions (final editing by an American writer) of Okito’s brothers and sisters are available.
- (February 2024). Chapter 17 (Okito) is (preliminary) ready. The 600+ pages (containing many illustrations) are still being verified on correct American spelling and grammar. First work has started on chapter 24 (Fu Manchu). Their names are resp. Tobias Leendert aka Theo(dore) Bamberg and David Tobias Bamberg.