Magic & Conjuring

A binary method with a twist that makes it incomprehensible.

EFFECT: Three spectators select an item off your Bucket List. You show them four short lists and for each list, they are asked if they see their chosen item. Spectator one is asked to answer truthfully and spectator two is told they can either lie or tell the truth but they are not to tell you which they choose. Spectator three is told to only answer silently in their mind. Despite these increasingly more difficult conditions you are able to reveal all three selections.

I have been creating binary effects for a couple of years...

Gaffed games, clever cons, sensational swindles - how to spot the bunco artist before he cheats you.

This may well be the greatest exposé of gambling methods, swindles, confidence games and carnival midway hustles ever published. No matter if you're a magician, gambler, carnival midway patron (or operator), law enforcement professional, or simply want to protect yourself, you're going to enjoy this book.

Especially valuable to those with an interest in carnival and gaming paraphernalia are the methods used to gaff the devices as sold back in the day by H. C. Evans, K. C. Card Co., and...

If you think packet card effects are "hot", but some of your audience don't, you should read this book. Many very good packet card effects do not find favor with some audiences. Kids don't understand playing cards. Teenagers of the fairer sex just don't "dig" card tricks (or most magic tricks for that matter). Many ladies will hide a polite yawn. As will some gentlemen when preoccupied with more "spiritual" pastimes.

But a slight twist in the tale could change their perception. And this is what this manuscript aims at. Here are your (and my) favorite packet tricks, "dressed to please"....

Find two thought-of E.S.P. cards without even looking at the deck.

A deck of 25 colored E.S.P. cards (a.k.a. Zener cards) is introduced. It contains five different symbols in five different colors. In other words, every card is unique. The magician shuffles the deck and tables it.

After he turns his back, two spectators remove a card from the deck. They create their own card — combining the symbol on one card and the color on the other card — and hide their selections face down under the cardbox.

The magician faces the spectators again and asks them to visualize their thought-of...

A complete handbook of legerdemain, containing all the latest optical, chemical, mechanical, and magical tricks and deceptions, amusing transmutations, astonishing sleights and subtleties, together with all the noted tricks of modern magicians and prestidigitators.

If you always wanted to make a mouse come out of a pack of cards, change salt to sugar, or make fire burn under water, this may be just the book for you. The author only identifies himself as 'An Old Conjuror'.

Excerpt from the publisher's preface:

After a lengthy introduction, it describes and explains the performances of the muscle-reader Mr. Brown. It also describes and explains the performances of the brothers Outerbridge whose purpose it was to prove that these types of experiments are based on muscle-reading and not any other mysterious mental forces.

This talk was given before the Social Science Association on May 12th, 1875.

1st edition 1875, 28 pages; PDF 19 pages.

Here you will find the history, method, and routine of the famous Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine book test developed by Richard Himber and staged to perfection by Stanley Jaks.

This Ellery Queen booklet from 1951 can occasionally still be found second-hand in its original edition. This means that nothing stands in the way of a faithful re-enactment of this effect.

1st edition 2024, PDF 20 pages.

Hier finden Sie die Entstehungsgeschichte, Methodik, und Routine des berühmten Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Buchtestes der von Richard Himber entwickelt und von Stanley Jaks mit Perfektion in Szene gesetzt wurde.

Dieses Ellery Queen Heft von 1951 findet man gelegentlich noch original antiquarisch. Damit steht einer getreuen Reinszenierung dieses Effektes nichts mehr im Weg.

Erstausgabe 2019, PDF 20 Seiten.

Olaf Güthling erforscht die Familie und Wurzeln von Stanley Jaks in Deutsch-Krone und Jaks Umzug nach Berlin.

Erstausgabe 2018, PDF 33 Seiten.

• The Pass Surpassed
• Chameleon Card
• Henry Hardin's Handkerchief Production
• B. H. Additional Wrinkle To Show Both Palms At Once
• Additional Wrinkle
• Super-Supreme Force
• Concluding The Effect
• Auto-Operative Shuffle
• Handkerchief Creation
• Climax Color Change
• The Wonder Pass
• The Impromptu Magician
• The Indeceptive Deception
• Burling Hull "Invisible Pass"
• A Unique Thimble "Move"
• Burling Hull Thimble Production

1st edition 1914, 26 pages; PDF 20 pages.

D. Angelo Ferri, a student of Tony Slydini, teaches Slydini's cut and restored rope routine. Every nuance, move, and misdirection is taught in more than 30 minutes of video explanation. Learn a practical, effective, and legendary rope routine.

1st edition 2024, video 32:10.

The price will increase to $20 on May 21st, 2024.

This ebook is not about any particular effect but rather is about a principle that you can apply to certain types of effects in order to double their fool factor. The principle makes it possible to create the illusion of a shuffle where a shuffle wouldn't otherwise be possible. There are many effects in which the deck can only be cut at the end (not shuffled). With the application of this principle, you can create the illusion of a shuffle. Best of all, the illusion can be created with the spectator themself shuffling.

That's not to...

You count 8 cards but in fact are only showing four cards, hiding four other cards in the process.

1st edition 2024, video 4:15.

An amazing magic ritual that, performed with the audience, will invariably lead to success. Actually, a self-working, impromptu card magic effect, which uses four simple cards taken at random from the deck and results in an amazing "ritual," which can also be performed in close-up or on a stage, or remotely, even over the phone, and which will never fail to amaze the entire audience involved!

Four very common playing cards are used, taken at random from a deck of cards, and with which the illusionist, at the same time as one, dozens, or hundreds of spectators (each supplied with four different...

Un incredibile Rituale Magico che, eseguito con il pubblico, immancabilmente porterà sempre al successo! In realtà un effetto Automatico di Cartomagia Impromptu, che utilizza quattro semplici carte prese a caso dal mazzo e comporta uno stupefacente “Rituale”, eseguibile anche in close-up o su di un palco, oppure a distanza, persino al telefono, a che non mancherà mai di stupire tutto il pubblico coinvolto!

Si utilizzano quattro comunissime carte da gioco, prese a caso da un mazzo di carte, e con le quali l’illusionista, in contemporanea ad uno come a decine o centinaia di spettatori...

Indian Conjuring is an illustrated guide to Indian magic tricks by Major L. H. Branson, a British officer in the British Indian Army and magician. It includes explanations and step-by-step instructions for a variety of magic tricks that the author came across while serving in colonial India during the early twentieth century.

• CHAPTER I: A Comparison
• CHAPTER II
• The Cup And Balls
• CHAPTER III: The Bamboo-Sticks
• The Ring On The Stick
• CHAPTER IV: The Glass Box
• CHAPTER V: The Bowl Of Rice
• CHAPTER VI: A Rope Trick
• The Swastika
• The Egg Bag
• CHAPTER VII: The Dancing Duck
• CHAPTER VIII:...

A collection of graceful arts, merry games, and odd tricks, intended to amuse everybody and enable all to amuse everybody else. Full of suggestions for private theatricals, tableaux, charades, and all sorts of parlor and family amusements. With nearly 150 illustrative pictures.

In the days without the Internet, TV, or even radio, people entertained themselves. This book covers all kinds of things one can do from arts and crafts, little plays, simple conjuring tricks, and other activities.

1st edition 1866, 302 pages; PDF 157 pages.

Excerpt from the introduction by Herbert Holmes:

This e-book is a challenge / puzzle PDF. You, the buyer, have the opportunity to win $100 USD.

Note: If no one finds the correct solution and wins the competition, then at the end of the competition (which is exactly a month after the start date) you will get another PDF that contains the method. Thus no matter what happens you will eventually learn the method. Moreover, the PDF will be sold separately after the competition as well - for those who didn't take part in the competition - but it will be sold at a higher price.

In the PDF you will find a performance video to an effect - a card...

The Wild Card effect has been one of my favorite packet effects from as far back as I can remember and is indisputably one of the best card packet effects of all time. Unfortunately, in its original form, it does not meet my concept of good magic. It does not answer the basic audience dilemma - "Why does he do it ?"

I know transformations (anything that changes) are part of a magic effect, but there ought to be some reason for it. If a performer changes blank paper to currency notes, that's logical, it's something everyone in the audience would like to do. If he changes a silk to an egg,...

Poly-graph; where the precision of a Lie Detector meets the artistry of Drawing Duplication.

Poly-graph is an unconventional yet logical fusion of two realms of mentalism - The Lie Detector and Drawing Duplication. Both plots unfold in tandem, with the Lie Detector concluding prior to the Drawing Duplication.

Start your act with the entire audience and end with drawing duplication with one, two, or more people.

Casually put, it is an everyday worker's material, a 100% surefire with no funny or tricky questions. With just an hour's preparation, it provides a solid 8-10 minutes of...

Vorwort von Olaf Güthling:

In this fantastic ebook, you'll find the truly impromptu tricks found in The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, together with dozens of notes not found in the original. These notes add new and interesting tricks and fresh ideas for presentation and even patter in some instances. But that's not all. We have added many illustrations that help clarify the description of certain tricks. Another thing we have done is adding, in some cases, the original advertisements that were used to sell these tricks when they were put on sale way back then.

Truly impromptu means that you take a normal shuffled deck and immediately, with no preparation...

Familiar and scientific explanation of legerdemain, physical amusement, recreative chemistry, diversions with cards, and of all the minor mysteries of mechanical magic, with feats. As performed in public by Herr Alexander, Robert Houdin, "The Wizard of the North," and distinguished conjurors of all ages and nations.

• PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT.
• PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTION.
• PART FIRST. MINOR TRICKS FOR SOCIAL COMPANY.
  • SECTION FIRST. Arithmetical ingenuities.
    • I. How to divine the numbers remaining in a sum which some person has thought of.
    • II. How To Find 6 Times 13 In 12
    • III. A comic dilemma.
    • IV....

A prediction effect with an alphabet deck that fits in your pocket.

The magician picks four spectators to play a word game. He makes a prediction that he leaves face down, in full view, on the table and introduces a packet of alphabet cards: Thirteen cards with a different letter on both sides. Each spectator cuts, deals, and flips over the cards. The magician puts aside one card (a 'bonus card') and deals the rest of the cards among the four spectators.

The game is divided into two phases, a warm-up and the real deal.

THE WARM-UP: The spectators are asked to make up the longest word...

Der Einsatz von Computeranimation und künstlicher Intelligenz macht es manchmal schwierig, Fakten und Fiktion voneinander zu unterscheiden. Um dies zu illustrieren, übergibt der Vorführende einem Zuschauer eine chinesische Lochmünze. Der Zuschauer fädelt diese auf eine rote Schnur mit weissen Enden.

Der Vorführende zieht die Münze von der Schnur ab und erklärt dass es zwei Möglichkeiten gäbe, die Münze wieder auf die Schnur zu fädeln – über das eine oder das andere Ende, jedoch nicht über die Mitte der Schnur. Dabei wird die Münze sichtbar auf die Mitte der Schnur aufgefädelt,...

Timeless magic for today's audiences.

A captivating collection of little-known magic routines meticulously curated for modern performers. Dive into the world of enchantment as you uncover a treasure trove of almost forgotten tricks rejuvenated for today's audiences.

This ebook offers an array of easy-to-master yet impactful routines that will leave your audience spellbound. Whether you're a seasoned magician or just starting on your magical journey, these routines are designed to captivate and astonish, ensuring unforgettable performances every time. Rediscover the joy of magic and delight...

Excerpt from the foreword:

Excerpt from the introduction:

An occasional journal of magic and strange.

Jazzy, fun, and informative, Ben Harris' new digital journal is full of surprises and tweaks.

• Learn a no-reel version of the amazing Leviosa.
• Tweak a switch cup so it works twice without a reset.
• Explore fantastic effects with gilded playing cards.
• Tweak a classic Paul Curry effect with an additional 'discard pile,' making the impossible even more so.
• Re-purpose your favorite 'Four Ace Production' as a mind-numbing gambling challenge.

Edited by Steve Shufton and illustrated by Ever Elizalde, Tweak looks and reads with ease and excitement.

1st edition 2024,...

This is a compilation of three lecture notes released during the 1980s by Ray Grismer: Short Notes, Magic, and Lecture. As the name suggests these are short notes on the items Grismer presented during his lecture. There is some overlap between these three notes.

• Short Notes
  • About These Notes
  • Queens And Fives
  • Separ-Ace-Ion
  • Flakie
  • Hooz?
  • Handy
  • Swivel Cutting Aces
  • Fan Spell
  • Psychic Game
  • Mental Stop
  • Bookie
• Magic
  • Fraces
  • Hooz?
  • Flakie
  • Fan Spell
  • Prep H
  • Mindray 2nd
  • Computer
  • B_J Demo
  • Hip ESP
  • E-Z Foxy
  • Bookie
  • Values
• Lecture
  • Quickwich
  • Idaho Poker
  • Tiger
  • Timeit Or Peekit ...

Two for the price of one here as with Credit Transfer you get a mental effect and a piece of magic together. A borrowed credit card is slipped into a small envelope. Two paperback books are shown and the pages are riffled of one of the books until a spectator calls 'stop'. The credit card in the envelope is dropped into the book to mark the place. The second book is now opened to reveal an envelope is already inside it, and the page it rests on turns out to match the page just selected in the first book. Then the credit card vanishes from the envelope in the first book and arrives inside the...

Price will increase to $20 end of April.

An impromptu, gimmick-free, borrowed deck miracle. A location and divination of a selected card under test conditions. Read on.

Imagine:

The magician introduces a deck of cards. The spectator can thoroughly examine it, after which they can freely shuffle it for as long as they want in any way that they want.

Once they're done shuffling, the magician invites them to look through the deck (faces towards themself, backs towards the magician) and select any two cards that they like. Let's suppose they select the two black A's. They turn these...

It is an amazing automatic card magic effect that uses an ordinary deck of 54 cards (complete with the two jokers) and a pair of dice (which can also just be imagined by the spectators).

It tells the story of a pirate, the map of his island, and the magic dice he used to find his legendary treasure, in a crescendo of suspense, until the unexpected final surprise.

Completely self-working but with a surprising ending that will fool magicians too!

1st edition 2024, PDF 7 pages.

Si tratta di un incredibile effetto AUTOMATICO di Cartomagia che, servendosi di un comune mazzo di 54 carte (completo dei due jolly) e di un paio di dadi (che possono anche solo essere immaginati dagli spettatori) racconta la storia di un pirata, della mappa della sua isola e dei dadi magici di cui servirsi per ritrovarne il leggendario tesoro, in un crescendo di suspense, fino all’inattesa sorpresa finale!

COMPLETAMENTE SELF-WORKING, ma con un finale sorprendente che ingannerà anche i maghi!

• Twentieth Century Billiard Ball Trick
• New Card To The Pocket
• A Modern Card Miracle
• A Different Conclusion
• Sympathetic Aces
• A New Click Pass
• The Coins Up The Sleeve
• A New Miser's Dream
• The Magic Square
• The Percival Shoe Lace Trick

1st edition 1933, PDF 16 pages.

Bracelet sequences and algorithmic stacks.

Mathematical Stacks contains a collection of various stacks made with 52 standard playing cards. Although some routines and presentations are mentioned, the book is not predominately about either routines or presentations. The very few presentations listed in this book are generally the bare minimum to demonstrate an effect.

The book contains stacks with bracelet sequences and built-in routines. The book includes stacks with binary bracelet sequences, e.g. a red-black suit bracelet sequence, where six consecutive cards identify the cards. Some...

Reminiscences of the life of humorist Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) and pictures of a showman's career in the Western world.

A wonderful account of show business by the example of the humorist Artemus Ward during the 19th century. In particular, it describes how performers had to travel through the US during the 1860s, how they had to advertise and promote their shows, including the characters they encountered and the situations they had to master.

For conjurers most interesting is chapter 25: Spiritualism And Conjuring. This tells of how Hingston and Browne helped a conjurer by...

Instructions, routines, tips, and ideas for a card punch.

This is a series of letters to a fictitious E.N. Igami ('imagine' when read reversed) with information on how to use a card punch and what can be done with it, particularly from a conjurer's perspective. It is one of the few resources available on card punches. It also reproduces a few passages from older books that cover punch work.

Several gambling demonstrations are detailed, including a Dai Vernon Bridge Deal as well as poker and blackjack routines. Other routines have more of a mental slant. Ray Grismer also explains his system for placement...

A blue-backed deck is openly displayed and one card is selected from the face-down deck. Cutting the selection back into the pack and shuffling the deck, the performer offers to find the selection quickly and effectively.

Snapping his fingers over the deck, he turns the cards face down and spreads through the entire deck to reveal that every card back has changed from blue to red, except for just one card, and that turns out to be the selected card!

No sleight of hand is required, this is designed to instantly re-set in front of the spectators and everything takes place up in your hands,...

Stretch a coin and return it to its original shape instantenously.

• easy to make
• easy to perform
• no black art

1st edition 2024, video 8:43.

This is a quick, easy, direct, and impactful propless routine that you can easily carry in your head at all times, ready to deploy whenever you want. The entire routine takes up about 45 seconds to under a minute.

Based on the linked thoughts premise, you take your participant on a mental journey across the various continents of the world and you are able to impossibly reveal the country where the mental journey ends, to the utter surprise of your participant.

There are 3 routines explained. Your participant needs to have a mobile phone which can search Google. Or you can lend your phone...

An account of the author's professional life; his wonderful tricks and feats; with laughable incidents, and adventures as a magician, necromancer, and ventriloquist.

Excerpt from the Preface:

Dicky Dean first introduced this climax in his act in 1954. When you perform it you will find that fire still captivates an audience.

EFFECT: At the end of your Zombie routine, the ball is broken apart and fire burns mysteriously in each half of the ball.

1st edition 1979, 8 pages; PDF 7 pages.

This is a straightforward version of the classic Lie Detector routine that can be performed with any deck (even a borrowed one) and with no advance setup.

A deck is shuffled by a spectator to put the cards into a genuinely random order, and the performer then extracts one card which he leaves sight unseen in view on the table. The magician then asks a spectator three questions about the tabled card, and the helper is invited to make up his answers (since he doesn't know at this stage what the tabled card actually is). Whatever answers the participant gives, the performer spells the word...

When several of the foremost authors in modern magic collaborate with the owner of one of the most respected magic companies, you just know the result will be a great book. Originally released in a limited edition by the owner of Thayer Magic Studios, the first and only previous edition of this clever collection sold out and has never been reprinted … until now.

Features top-quality effects from Dr. Boris Zola, J. Elder Blackledge, T. Nelson Downs, Edward Bagshawe, M. F. Zens, Harlan Tarbell, Herman L. Weber, T. J. Crawford, and others.

Originally published in a limited edition, priced at more than $33.00 in today's money. Not just jaw-dropping...