| Listed+ | Price | |
Trix FixesJon Racherbaumer | $10 to wish list | ||
All That JazzJon RacherbaumerJazz Aces was inauspiciously introduced to the magic world in 1971 when Peter Kane published Another Card Session. It was a fortuitous event because it appeared about the same time the Elmsley Count was gaining favor with magicians from coast to coast. Like weeds in an open field, packet tricks were also popping up everywhere. Furthermore, Kane's routine clarified the transposition aspects of basic Ace Assemblies. Using only 8 principal "players" (cards), his action procedure was simple and direct. Best of all, the final transposition was squeaky clean. As a result it did not take long for Jazz... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
AvatarRobert Walker & Jon RacherbaumerRobert Walker was a unicycling, high-school student. Looking five years younger than he was, he was a dyed-in-the-wool card guy tutored in Marlovian ways. He was also a precocious writer-creator, obsessed with false counts and packet tricks. He spent many hours "twisting the night away," taking voluminous notes, and developing new methods and approaches. His first mini-treatise dissected a marketed packet trick by Larry West ("Wild, Wild West") which he passed onto Jon Racherbaumer to publish. It became the second installment of the loose-leaf Avatar, printed on pink paper and unadorned by illustrations... | $6 to wish list | ||
Psi-VJon RacherbaumerA retrospective look at Dai Vernon's Five-Card Mental Force.
| ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | ||
Mirroring Maximizing MiraskillJon Racherbaumer"One of the greatest card tricks ever invented." - George AndersonMiraskill came into being in 1935 when Stewart James self-marketed it. According to him, only one copy was sold. But it leaked out and Dr. Jacob Daley demonstrated it to Ted Annemann, who eventually published it in the Jinx, which was the starting point for much thought and commentary by other clever minds. ... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
Picnic PocusJon RacherbaumerThis manuscript is about one trick that incorporates a seminal sorting procedure now given the name Belcho's Disbursive Deal. Over the years the trick eventually morphed into an organized compilation that shares the same identifiable title: "Poker Player's Picnic." It begins with Vernon Lux, an enterprising amateur who founded the International Society of Junior Magician in 1931 and began a magazine called The Dragon in 1932. Therein Oscar Weigle had a column called "Themes and Schemes" where he explained a trick called "The Million to One Trick." (Later it was changed to "Belchou's Aces.") It's unclear... | ★★★★★ $18 to wish list | ||
Mulling Over Mexican JoeJon Racherbaumer'Mexican Joe' refers to a specially crimped card or deck, one that is crimped at diagonal corners in opposite directions. The first person to publish anything on this crimp was Victor Farelli when he published Farelli's Card Magic. Several years passed before another mention is made. This time it was explained in Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets of Card Magic. Racherbaumer collects a number of routines and ideas with this crimp. In so doing he weaves his way through some interesting nooks and crannies of card magic history.
| $15 to wish list | ||
TwixtJon RacherbaumerReviving "Between the Palms" one of Alex Elmsley's most offbeat plots. This is sort of a "locked room" mystery with playing cards. It is an offbeat plot because the implicit aspects of effect, particularly its climax, are not immediately understood or appreciated. Yet the effect still has an emotional impact. Compared to other card tricks being done in 1952 it was very different. (Perhaps its closest cousins may be Fred Braue's "The Prechosen Chosen Card" from The Gen (February 1962) or Brother John Hamman's "Signed Card.") Effect: The performer removes a card from the deck and, without showing its face, places it between... | $15 to wish list | ||
Minutia Memes 1Jon RacherbaumerRegarding changes, sexual and otherwise. This is an unusual one, but Jon Racherbaumer always weaves an interesting yarn meshing history with magic and card tricks with culture. In this short but nevertheless interesting ebook Jon starts out with a historic event that in the 1950s made huge waves. Today it would hardly make the news. In 1952 a man by the name of George William Jorgensen Jr. had a number of operations to change his sex and became Christine Jorgensen. Edward Marlo exploited this event and created a card trick called "Christine", and with Christine, he meant Christine Jorgensen. This is... | $5 to wish list | ||
Monte-MazementsJon RacherbaumerOffbeat alternatives of the Three-Card Motif This compilation makes a distinction between the well-known Three-Card Monte wagering game, and motifs using three principal cards in different ways. All of the motifs challenge a spectator's ability to follow the actions to keep track of certain principal cards as they are physically moved around. In some of the motifs, the principal cards are moved by the spectator while the performer's back is turned. Then, sight unseen, the performer is able to ascertain the location of a card previously designated as the "money card." In other motifs... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | ||
MythopolisJon RacherbaumerUnpacking the Smith Myth and the Rashomon Concept. This collection of tricks focuses on a similar motif because they fit the precise definition of that word and, in each case, the goal is to show what unifies and specifically defines each one. I'm also using the term "curate," because I sifted through lots of material so readers can compare and analyze everything. I consider this to be a contextualizing exercise that reveals the motif's history and pinpoints its rightful place in the Creative Continuum. The two motifs compiled here are the Smith Myth and what's popularly known as the Rashomon... | $12 to wish list | ||
Dustbin Dossier 1Jon RacherbaumerThe contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though. From the introduction: Dustbin Dossier will service a distinct minority interested in examining documents (letters, notes, booklets, diaries, journals) in their original, "aboriginal" forms. Personal letters, for example, are a primary source of raw, unfiltered knowledge - seasoned with salt, not sugar. They are usually characterized by their spontaneous candor and unguarded subjectivity. After all, most of them were written for one person... | $7 to wish list | ||
Dustbin Dossier 2Jon RacherbaumerThe contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though.
1st edition 2014, PDF 30 pages.... | $7 to wish list | ||
All Backs: a select compendiumJon RacherbaumerThe All Backs Motif is odd. For one thing, it casts a revealing light on we magician's claim (when it suits our purpose) that we use ordinary cards. That is our decks, which we prefer to borrow, consist of cards that have faces and backs on both sides. Therefore, if we show a deck that consists of all backs and faces we are admitting that such anomalies exist and the cards being used are probably gimmicked in some way. Why do this? A better question may be - What motivated someone to create such an effect using this kind of deck? That "someone" was Dai Vernon and my guess is that he wanted to... | $15 to wish list | ||
Rub-a-Dub DigestJon RacherbaumerABOUT RUB-A-DUB: The rhyme is of a type calling out otherwise respectable people for disrespectable actions, in this case, ogling naked ladies - the maids. The nonsense "Rub-a-dub-dub" develops a phonetic association of social disapprobation, analogous to "tsk-tsk," albeit of a more lascivious variety. The Rub-a-Dub Move's inauspicious beginning began in 1909 at a time when, relatively speaking, magicians had a limited number of utilitarian sleights and techniques at their disposal. Besides, the Rub-a-Dub Move happened in the blink of an eye and was only an offbeat way to make a card disappear. ... | ★★★★★ $12 to wish list | ||
Devious DeparturesJon RacherbaumerA deep dive into Elmsley's Point of Departure. The original effect is the following. A card is chosen and placed face down on the table. The two black aces are then removed from the pack and with the utmost fairness, the chosen card is placed between them, and this sandwich is handed to a spectator to hold. On the magician's command, the chosen card vanishes and is found in the performer's pocket.
| ★★★★★ $12 to wish list | ||
Analects and AnaloguesJon RacherbaumerTen card mysteries Annemann would have loved. This book was part of a two-person three-hour lecture session given by Harry Anderson that Jon gave at a Daytona Magic Conference. Excerpt from the foreword: Anneman believed that the effect is the most important thing and, to paraphrase Vince Lombardi, the effect is the only thing. Anneman believed, as deists believe in a god, that a magician must do something extraordinary with the ordinary…and what is demonstrated must also have no practical use or relevance in the real world. It is a demo, not an application of real power. Anneman... | ★★★★★ $19.50 to wish list | ||
Black JackeryJon RacherbaumerTricks that allude to the game of BlackJack.
1st edition 2023, PDF 30 pages. | $12 to wish list | ||
Harry Anderson's Square DancingJon RacherbaumerA selective history of magic squares and routines and performances which are somewhat unusual and different from the regular magic square presentation of 'give me a number and I write down a magic square of that number'.
1st edition 2008, PDF 31 pages.... | $20 to wish list | ||
Dreamwork 2Jon RacherbaumerThis short compilation follows on the heels of another compilation titled Dreamwork. Both relate to Bob Hummer's "The Midreader's Dream." Bob Hummer introduced to the magic world many interesting principles and effects. One of the first to make a splash was introduced in 1952. The dreamy dealer ad seemed too good to be true: A spectator merely thinks of a card and then performs a few, unseen dealing procedures with a deck of cards. The magician, whose back was turned throughout these actions, turns and faces the spectator. He takes the deck, briefly scans the cards, and consults a "dream book." He then names... | ★★★★★ $16 to wish list | ||
Virtual VisitationsJon RacherbaumerDiving into double-back transits.
| $14 to wish list | ||
On the Tabled ReverseJon RacherbaumerA finessed examination of a unique technique. This manuscript is about a basic card technique that is sui generis, although it remains a limited application. Nevertheless, it is worth knowing because it's been cleverly used to perform one of the best short versions of "Triumph" extant. The basic move permits you to secretly reverse a card while the deck is tabled and simultaneously riffle shuffled. This manuscript also reveals the how, when and who worked on it. The first Tabled Reverse appeared in Marlo's Off the Top in 1945, credited to Russell Barnhart. Therein it was sparsely explained,... | $12 to wish list | ||
Facsimile 2 (used)Jon RacherbaumerA letter-sized booklet with glue binding in excellent condition. For the content see the digital edition. | $15 to wish list | ||
Facsimile 1 (used)Jon RacherbaumerA letter-sized booklet with glue binding in excellent condition. For the content see the digital edition. | $15 to wish list |