Anagrams have been used in various mentalism tricks, usually, although not always, in a concealed manner. The first trick using anagrams currently identified is “Anagramme Magique” in Edmé-Gilles Guyot's Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques, 1799, p. 75. This is a variation in a family of tricks in which a number of tiles are arranged by a spectator in any order in a long box with a lid. The magician then divines the chosen order. In the case of the anagram trick, a chosen word—one of six possible—created by six tiles with letters on them is divined.
See also: Progressive Anagram Principle.