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. Singular addition, or how to set down the total of a sum without putting down a cipher.
- V. The dishonest servant.
- VI. An embarrassing question.
- VII. Pleasant subtraction.
- VIII. The sevens are trumps.
- IX. The twenty cards.
- X. A numerical trick of cards.
- XI. The novel game of tontine.
- XII. To guess in which hand, holding counters, can be found the odd or even number.
- XIII. Table of permutation.
- XIV. A pleasantry in trading.
- XV. Gold in one hand, silver in another; in which hand is either to be found?
- XVI. Curious properties of the numbers 37 and 73.
- XVII. Two dice thrown on a table, to guess their points without seeing them.
- XVIII. Piquet on horseback.
- XIX. Three dice thrown upon a table and ranged in order to guess the points upon each.
- XX. A sum divided by two, and nothing remains.
- XXI. A simple and pleasing card trick.
- XXII. The cross of counters.
- XXIII. Challenge as to who shall count 31 first with a single dice, and to be sure to win.
- XXIV. The trick with counters.
- XXV. A person having so many counters in one hand, and so many in another, to guess how many he has in both.
- SECTION SECOND. The rudiments of white magic.
- I. To make liquid steel.
- II. The landlady and her guests.
- III. To change the color of a bird or flower.
- IV. Magic pictures alternately representing summer and winter.
- V. To split a piece from off a coin.
- VI. The magic flask.
- VII. A piece of coin upon a plate to appear like two - one larger than the other.
- VIII. The magical portrait.
- IX. Magic writing upon glass.
- X. A changeable rose.
- XI. A self-acting pump.
- XII. Self-turning cross.
- XIII. The sign of the cross.
- XIV. To take away any middle object without touching it.
- XV. Candles extinguished and lighted by pistol shots.
- XVI. A shot at long range.
- XVII. A trick upon ladies.
- XVIII. Columbus outdone.
- XIX. Incombustible paper.
- XX. To change a knife blade from steel to copper.
- XXI. The faces on the wall.
- XXII. A leaky vessel.
- XXIII. The magic bouquets.
- Sympathetic Inks.
- XXIV. How to eat a candle-end.
- XXV. An amusing pleasantry.
- XXVI. The inexplicable foundry.
- XXVII. A liquid which shines in the dark.
- XXVIII. How to turn over a glass filled with any liquid without letting any of it run out.
- XXIX. How contraries can be mingled.
- XXX. A chamber of horrors.
- XXXI. A modern miracle.
- XXXII. The four elements - earth, water, fire, air.
- XXXIII. Rings and double ribbons - a japanese trick.
- XXXIV. Lightning without thunder or rain.
- XXXV. A man always upright.
- XXXVI. The magic oracle.
- XXXVII. To pour wine and water into the same glass without their mixing.
- XXXVIII. To shoot a small bird and bring it to life again.
- XXXIX. To take a shirt from one's back without undressing.
- XL. The pocket letter-writer.
- XLI. Glass cutting by fire and water.
- XLII. To break a stick placed upon two glasses filled with water without breaking them or spilling the water.
- XLIII. To raise a bottle, full or empty, by a straw.
- XLIV. To make a lighted candle stay in water.
- XLV. To divide eight pints of wine among three vases containing eight, five and three pints.
- XLVI. To balance a stick in perpetual equilibrium.
- XLVII. A treacherous balance.
- XLVIII. An inextinguishable lamp.
- XLIX. To change colors of liquids in a number of vases.
- L. To cause worms to appear in a bottle after having placed there earth and water.
- LI. A living stone.
- LII. To imitate birds.
- LIII. The tree of mars.
- LIV. To make flowers bloom in winter.
- LV. Inflammable ice.
- LVI. The magic coffer.
- LVII. To change the color of a liquid in a glass several different times.
- LVIII. To put a string into the fire without burning it.
- LIX. To cut an apple into quarters without damaging the peel.
- LX. To pierce a plank with the end of a candle.
- LXI. To make ice in summer.
- LXII. To make a liquid boil without fire.
- LXIII. The blazing bottle of wine.
- LXIV. To burn liquid on your hand harmlessly.
- LXV. To make a colored liquid from two colorless ones.
- LXVI. The tree of diana.
- LXVII. To make a penknife come out of a goblet.
- LXVIII. An after-dinner feat.
- LXIX. To take a dollar piece out of a vase of water without wetting your hands.
- LXX. To change a watch into a buck's tail.
- LXXI. The dancing egg.
- LXXII. To cook an omelette in a hat.
- LXXIII. The magic snuff-box.
- LXXIV. A self-working turnspit.
- LXXV. An explosive bottle.
- LXXVI. A card torn and mended.
- LXXVII. A novel card press.
- LXXVIII. Sportsman and cook.
- LXXIX. The charmed bullet.
- LXXX. The faithful bird.
- PART SECOND. LEGERDEMAIN AND JUGGLERY.
- SECTION FIRST.
- General Observations.
- Jugglery with Cups and Balls.
- How to "Smuggle the Joker."
- General Instructions.
- I. To place a ball under each cup and withdraw them with a single ball.
- II. To pass a ball through each of the cups, and to draw it from the same.
- III. To withdraw a ball through two or three cups.
- IV. To pass the same ball from cup to cup.
- V. The cups being covered to cause a ball to pass from one to the other without raising them.
- VI. To pass a ball through the table and two cups.
- VII. To withdraw the ball from one cup, and cause it to pass through two others with the same ball.
- Interlude.
- VIII. To pass under one cup the two balls put under others.
- IX. Two balls placed under two cups to cause them to pass beneath two others.
- X. To pass three balls beneath the same cup.
- XI. To pass two balls from one cup to another without touching any of the cups.
- XII. To pass beneath one cup the balls placed beneath the others.
- XIII. Multiplication of balls.
- XIV. To pass a ball under each of the cups.
- XV. To withdraw two balls across the same cup.
- XVI. To pass a ball successively through three cups.
- XVII. To pass beneath one cup the balls placed beneath two others without raising these last.
- XVIII. To pass separately the three balls across each cup.
- XIX. Placing the balls in the bag, to refind them under the cups.
- XX. To pass the balls across two cups.
- XXI. To withdraw three balls out of two cups.
- XXII. To pass three balls simultaneously across a cup.
- XXIII. To pass the three balls of one cup into another.
- XXIV. To change the color of the balls.
- XXV. To change the balls as to size.
- XXVI. To pass larger sized balls from one cup to another.
- XXVII. To pretend to draw a ball from the end of the rod.
- XXVIII. To make a ball disappear.
- XXIX. To find a ball beneath a cup where there was nothing before.
- XXX. To cause a person to believe there is not a ball beneath a cup where there are several.
- XXXI. To pass one cup into another.
- XXXII. How to make balls beneath a cup disappear without touching them.
- XXXIII. To find a large ball beneath a cup.
- XXXIV. To lead a person to believe there is nothing beneath the cups, when there are large balls beneath them.
- XXXV. Change of large balls into sponges, wigs and nightcaps.
- PART THIRD. TRICKS OF SIMPLE JUGGLERY.
- SECTION FIRST.
- I. The sack of eggs.
- II. A handkerchief marked, cut, torn, and mended.
- III. A watch pulverized in a mortar.
- IV. A patent egg-box.
- V. To cut off a chicken's head without killing it.
- VI. To pierce an arm with a knife without doing any injury.
- VII. The convenient funnel.
- VIII. Another experiment with the funnel.
- IX. The awl which does no harm.
- X. A two-shilling piece changed into a two-cent one, and vice versa.
- XI. The magic boxes.
- XII. The Grain Box.
- XIII. Another explanation of the same feat.
- XIV. How to make a ring change from a hand, and to cause it to go upon any finger of an opposite hand.
- XV. So that a person cannot alter the place of a glass filled with water without spilling it.
- XVI. The devil's ducats.
- XVII. How to undo a double knot without touching it.
- XVIII. A palpable hit against the door.
- PART FOURTH. DIVERSIONS WITH PLAYING CARDS.
- PARTICULAR PRINCIPLES.
- To jump the cut with two hands.
- To jump the cut with a single hand.
- False shuffles can be divided into four varieties.
- To smuggle a card.
- To slip a card.
- To carry away a card.
- To place a card.
- I. To tell in advance a card selected by any one.
- II. To cause a card to be drawn by chance and mixed with the others by one of the company, and to cause it to be found, either at the top or in the middle of the pack, as the audience may desire.
- III. To cause a card to be drawn by chance, and after having divided the pack into four packages, to cause it to be invariably found in that one selected freely by the audience.
- IV. To foresee the thought of a person in placing, in advance, into the pack a card chosen by chance, in the rank and order which that person may designate afterwards.
- V. To cause a card to be drawn and mixed with the others, and after showing that it is neither at the top nor the bottom, to cause it to remain alone in the left hand, while the others fall to the ground from a blow of the right hand.
- VI. To find four kings in the middle of the pack, after having placed them in separate places.
- VII. The danger of gambling with a magician.
- VIII. To guess a card thought of.
- IX. To change a king of hearts into an ace of spades, and change them back again.
- X. To name a card a person draws from the pack.
- XI. To find in a pack of cards or through a handkerchief, any card drawn from the pack.
- XII. To find in a pack placed in a pocket, several cards which different persons have drawn freely.
- XIII. The chameleon card.
- XIV. Another way to do this recreation without employing the long card.
- XV. To cause to be drawn cards by several persons, who place them themselves in the pack, and refind the cards which they had drawn.
- XVI. To guess many cards which two persons have taken from the pack.
- XVII. After having made three piles of a pack from which a card has been drawn, to cause it to be found in that of the others, as may be desired.
- XVIII. A card thought of by number.
- XIX. To guess the spots of cards beneath three piles made by any one.
- XX. The card in a ring.
- XXI. To cause to appear in a lunette, or spy-glass, many cards drawn from a pack.
- XXII. To find on the point of a sword, with the eyes blindfolded, a card drawn from the pack.
- XXIII. A card changing beneath your fingers.
- XXIV. To reproduce a burned card in a watch.
- XXV. To make a mouse, or other object, come out of a pack of cards.
- XXVI. To guess a card thought of by some person, through writing some number in advance.
- XXVII. To change a card in the hand of a person while recommending him to cover it well.
- XXVIII. To make a card pass from one hand to another.
- PART FOURTH. THE APPRENTICE IN WHITE MAGIC.
- I. A dancing coin.
- II. The invisible piece.
- III. The magic handkerchief.
- IV. The knife in the decanter.
- V. Blind man's buff at dominoes.
- VI. A coin melting in your hands.
- VII. A dollar coin in a wine glass.
- VIII. Dominoes seen and counted in spite of obstacles.
- IX. A glass of wine changed into a shower of rose leaves.
- X. The land-mark, or ten-pin.
- XI. An improvement upon "heads or tails."
- XII. The extremes.
- XIII. A marvellous excuse for awkwardness.
- XIV. The coffee-cups.
- XV. Backgammon out of date.
- PART FIFTH. ELECTRICAL DIVERSIONS.
- I. To attract a light body floating upon water.
- II. Luminous rain.
- III. The electrical dance.
- IV. The electric chimes.
- V. Electrical race course.
- VI. To inflame spirits of wine by an electric spark.
- VII. Luminous water jet.
- VIII. To draw fire from all parts of a person's body.
- IX. A stunning door knocker.
- X. The electrical spider.
- XI. To extract fire from water in a glass vase.
- XII. Sporting by electricity.
- XIII. Luminous bouquet.
- XIV. Electrical cascade.
- XV. Pocket electricity.
- XVI. House on fire.
1st edition 1870, 125 pages; PDF 132.
word count: 52048 which is equivalent to 208 standard pages of text
