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The Man Who Was ErdnaseBarton Whaley & Martin Gardner & Jeff BusbyThis book won the SAM Special Library Award. It details Martin Gardner's, Jeff Busby's and Bart Whaley's search to uncover the person hiding behind the pseudonym S.W. Erdnase. It lays out in detail the case for Milton Franklin Andrews. It describes the life of Andrews, how he started with magic, and how he transitioned to become a cardshark, including his travels around the word hustling and cheating to make a living. A detailed analysis of Erdnase's likely sources and inspirations, as well as other information about the book, its reprints, and other pertinent information will help every Erdnase researcher.... | $45 to wish list | |
The Napoleon MythHenry Ridgely Evans(We are carrying this ebook primarily because of the author, Henry Ridgeley Evans, who published several interesting books on conjuring.) On its face the book is about the myth that Napoleon never existed. It was at one time a popular myth, hoax, or fake news as it would be called today. It also provides interesting lessons and insights on how myths can develop. Since there are a number of myths in the world of conjuring, this work can help one understand why and how some of the myths in magic may have developed.
| $5 to wish list | |
The Odds Against MeJohn ScarneIf he'd had a touch of larceny in him, he could have been the number one card sharp of all time. Instead, the author of these fabulous memoirs, born to a mother who considered gambling the "devil's tool," puts his extraordinary gifts to far different purpose. He has used his incredible gambling sense, his miraculously dexterous fingers, his brilliant mathematical mind, his fascination with carnival and gambling life, to become America's number one authority on gambling and odds. He was the greatest practitioner and analyst of card and dice sleight of hand. His artistry impressed FDR as... | ★★★★★ $19 to wish list | |
The Old and The New MagicHenry Ridgely EvansFrom the introduction: The very word magic has an alluring sound, and its practice as an art will probably never lose its attractiveness for people's minds. But we must remember that there is a difference between the old magic and the new, and that both are separated by a deep chasm, which is a kind of color line, for though the latter develops from the former in a gradual and natural course of evolution, they are radically different in principle, and the new magic is irredeemably opposed to the assumptions upon which the old magic rests. Magic originally meant priestcraft. It is probable... | $12 to wish list | |
The Old Showmen and Old London FairsThomas FrostA detailed chronology of places, dates and performers of fairs in and around London. We learn mostly of theatrical productions of various kinds including pantomime and dances, and menageries exhibiting exotic animals, and less so of tumbling and acrobats, juggling, balancing and the like. It includes some coverage of conjurers including Fawkes, Pinchbeck, Breslaw and others. There is some overlap of stories from Circus Life and Circus Celebrities because some performers and operators were active in both venues.
| $5 to wish list | |
The Old-Time Train GamblerGeorge Jean NathanStories of card and revolver play, told by a man who "worked" the trains with his confederates in the days when stakes ran high. If one believes this account, then a lot of the crooked gambling on trains was simply theft at gunpoint rather than sophisticated sleight-of-hand card advantage play. 1st edition 1910, PDF 7 pages. | $3.50 to wish list | |
The Oldest Deception: Cups and Balls in the Art of the 15th and 16th CenturiesDr. Kurt Volkmann & June Barrows MusseyThis ebook is a treat for any magic historian as well as for anybody who likes to learn more about the history of the cups and balls. A collection of 20 woodcuts, copper engravings and oil paintings from the 15th and 16th century depicting conjurers with cups and balls is described in great detail by Kurt Volkmann, the president of the German Magic Circle from 1952-1958. For example, you will find the famous oil painting "The Juggler" by Hieronymus Bosch as well as an imitation and a very similar copper engraving. Read what we can learn from the various depictions of the cups and balls. One... | ★★★★★ $20 to wish list | |
The Reference Guide to Early Works on Card CheatingT. HayesThis ebook presents an analytical review of works on card cheating that are written in English and published before 1900. Given this scope, The Reference Guide to Early Works on Card Cheating takes 151 publications, and documents the card cheating techniques that they describe. Only card techniques discussed in the context of cheating at card games are considered. The 146 defined techniques are used to evaluate the publications based on their breadth and their contribution to the literature. The breadth is indicated by the absolute number of techniques each work describes, and the contribution... | $20 to wish list | |
The Robert Harbin BookRobert HarbinThis is a digital facsimile version of the original hardcover book. [The one hardcover I had left has sold. Sorry.] Back in the 1970s Martin Breese had the chance to record Robert Harbin on one of his early Magicassette releases. The Harbin Magicassette probably rates as the most popular of his recordings. In 1983 Martin asked the late Owen Griffith to transcribe the words from the Harbin Magicassette. The late and great Eric Mason created the illustrations for The Harbin Book. One day at a business trade fair Martin saw a full scale photo litho printing machine being demonstrated and decided to leap in to the deep end and he bought the demonstration machine and had... | ★★★★★ $49 to wish listPDF_facsimile | |
The True History of Pepper's GhostJohn Henry PepperJohn Henry Pepper took a projection invention of Henry Dircks, called The Ghost, with his permission, and made it practical so that it could more easily be performed. He earned a lot of money staging it. Even though Dircks did not want any payments from Pepper, there was a falling out between the two because the invention became known as Pepper's Ghost. Dircks wanted to have his name associated with it. This prompted Dircks to write The Ghost. Pepper's answer to that publication and dispute came almost 30 years later in this work The True History of the Ghost. He also includes the history and working of Metempsychosis... | $7 to wish list | |
The Unmasking of Robert-HoudinHarry HoudiniHoudini was upset that the widow of Robert-Houdin did not want to meet him. As a revenge Harry Houdini wrote The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, in which Houdini tries to push Robert-Houdin from his pedestal. He tries to show that most tricks Robert-Houdin claimed as his invention were in fact not his invention and that Robert-Houdin was not this great magician he usually is thought he was. But most of Houdini's allegations are fabricated and do not stand close inspection. Jean Hugard wrote as response to Houdini's nasty book Houdini's Unmasking, where Hugard point for point refutes Houdini's argumentation. I personally favor Hugard's opinion,... | ★★★★★ $6 to wish listPDF & EPUB | |
This Is Magic: secrets of the conjurer's craftWill DexterThis work is sort of a condensed history of magic. The story of some notable tricks. For example, what was the oldest conjuring trick in the world? What was the newest? Were the Piddingtons really telepathic? How does a magician saw a girl in half? Do conjurers use marked cards? How do they do the Indian Rope Trick?
| $12 to wish list | |
Those Beautiful DamesFrances MarshallAn ebook honoring those great women in magic, some from the past centuries. A world survey of "Those Beautiful Dames." Featuring among others Debbie Henning. Dan Waldron has a section on the Blackstone Saga, covering the magical life of Harry Senior, then the Blackstone, Jr. we know. Beautiful and talented women figured in both their lives, with Gay Blackstone a star in the Blackstone show. Marion Nicola writes of her show and life with the Great Nicola, Val Andrews covers many famous lady assistants. Carol Roy, Mrs. Electric releases the inside story of their adventures in odd parts of the... | ★★★★★ $24.95 to wish list | |
To the Sea in ShipsAl MannBiography of Captain Gilbert S. Aleman's, a.k.a. Al Mann, early part of his life. You may know Al Mann only as magician and mentalist. He was also a master mariner, a captain in the merchant marines, who spent years on the sea. This is an autobiographical account of his life before he became a mentalist. There is some mention of gambling, John Scarne, and how Al Mann got into magic, which may be of particular interest to magicians.
| ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | |
Topper Martyn Interview: all 4 partsTopper Martyn | $22 to wish listMP3 | |
Vanni Bossi: the man and the artistRoberto Bombassei & Biagio FasanoThe biography of a great artist and creative of the Italian and international magical world. Fifteen years after his death, the artist, magician and writer Roberto Bombassei, through a work of research and study, pays tribute to his mentor by publishing for the first time his biography: his beginnings, his path, his studies, his thoughts, his creations. Foreword by Tony Binarelli. English translation and additional notes by Biagio Fasano.
| $33 to wish list | |
Victor Farelli: A Magical MemoirPaul GordonThis is a brief historical account, a biographical essay, of one of the most intriguing characters in magic – Mr. Victor Farelli. 1st edition 2006, 36 pages. | $8 to wish list | |
Victorian Seance and the Birth of MentalismPaul VoodiniPaul Voodini presents Victorian Seance and the Birth of Mentalism, recounting the rise of Spiritualism in the 1800s, the antics, tricks, and techniques of the fraudulent mediums, and how this led directly to the birth of that branch of the magical arts known as 'mentalism.' This detailed manuscript outlines and explains such techniques and methods as mesmerism and hypnosis, table-tipping, slates, automatic writing, book tests, 'reading' techniques and Q&A, spirit manifestations, the Ouija board, and much, much more. The text also touches on escapology, quick change, and other magical techniques. ... | $40 to wish list | |
Wayne Dobson Talks to Jay Fortune: The Magic Interview Series No.1Wayne Dobson & Jay FortuneWay back in 2005, I began broadcasting a world-first: an hour dedicated to magic, live from London. At the time, I was presenting my breakfast show on commercial radio. Every Monday evening at 7pm GMT, the airwaves went live with Radio Magic. Each episode featured a ten-minute interview with a famous star of magic (see The Magic Interview Series ebook). As a spin-off from that year-long project, I recorded a few long-form interviews with magicians and these recordings became available as CDs: thus, the Magic Interview Series was born. Looking back, I was podcasting before podcasts! Now, for the first time ever, these... | $19.90 to wish listMP3 | |
WD40Wayne DobsonWayne Dobson has had a life full of incredible highs and hard-to-bear lows, and in this candidly written ebook, he lays it all before you. The full story is here charting his meteoric rise to international fame and TV stardom in which, when he was at the height of his powers, he became a household name in the UK and was seen as a genuine alternative to Paul Daniels as a mainstream TV magician, right through to his valiant and uncomplaining struggle with MS. It's a tale of courage, is often very funny, and it is always fascinating. As well as Wayne's life story this excellent ebook provides... | $19 to wish list | |
Who's Who In MagicBarton WhaleyNew updated edition. This biographical guide lists over 5,500 men and women associated with the art of conjuring from earliest recorded times to the present: performers, inventors, writers, teachers, dealers, manufacturers, publishers, collectors, historians, and showmen of magic. Several are included from the so-called allied arts of magic. Thus it gives those whose deceptions or careers directly influenced magicians, such as pseudo-psychics and card sharps; and those who share many deceptive methods with magicians, such as escapologists, mentalists, and stage pickpockets and hypnotists.... | ★★★★★ $50 to wish list | |
Who's Who in MagicWill GoldstonThere are not many short biography compilations in magic and this one by Goldston is still one that is being consulted frequently. The most extensive one is by Bart Whaley (Who's Who in Magic) but while Whaley covers many more magicians he does not include portraits. Goldston includes many portraits of magicians and his biographical sketches can sometimes be much more extensive than in other such compilations. Goldston groups magicians as professionals, semi-professionals, and amateurs. He covers 90 professional magicians, 50 semi-professional magicians, and 69 amateurs. 1st edition 1934, 114 pages; PDF... | $20 to wish list | |
You Can't Beat the GameBlakely Hall | $4 to wish list | |
You'll Always Have A DollarVal AndrewsThis is Val's own life story. Val is one of magic's most prolific writers and he draws from his vast magical experience as he recounts the story he knows best - his own. To people who know magic and the Show-Biz scene this is a marvelous recording to listen to. This is a licensed reproduction of the famous Magicassette series created by Martin Breese - now owned by Lybrary.com. runtime 1 hour | ★★★★★ $12 to wish listMP3 |