(1 customer rating) ★★★★★
From the introduction by Horace Goldin:
The present book is, I think, one of Will Goldston's best perhaps - the best. I am quite certain that the man who cannot learn magic from this book will never be a magician. All kinds of tricks are clearly explained and, to make quite sure that his readers will understand every word, the author has supplemented his clear explanations of tricks with numbers of equally clear illustrations. Looking through the book I find that in many places the letterpress is hardly necessary; the pictures "do the trick".
I should like to add a word of advice to any young man who is making his first approach to magic by reading this book. I strongly advise him to concentrate on a few tricks at a time - only one to begin with - and to get the performance of each trick as nearly perfect as possible before he takes up the study of another. The man who performs only half a dozen tricks really well is a far finer magician than one who just manages to get through two dozen tricks. Quality - not quantity - is the thing to aim at. It is a mistake to suppose that the most difficult tricks are necessarily the best. Some of the finest tricks in the world are perfectly simple, but the simplest trick - I am not sure which it is - needs practice before it can be presented properly to an audience. Therefore, I say to all young magicians: Here, in this book, you will find plenty of material for your performances; it is up to you to do your part and practise hard; the author cannot do that for you.
1st edition 1935, 304 pages; PDF 201 pages.word count: 74777 which is equivalent to 299 standard pages of text
