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How to do Sleight of HandA. AndersonContaining over fifty of the latest and best tricks used by magicians. Also containing the secret of Second Sight. Excerpt from the introduction: In Egypt, Greece and Rome, sleight of hand, accompanied by the supposed answers of the gods produced by ventriloquism, enabled the priest to keep the ignorant nations in subjection to their will. In the Middle Ages, too, a great deal of what happened under the influence of Black Magic was simply the cunning of professors of sleight of hand, sometimes mixed up with a few chemical tricks. ... One thing the young conjurer must remember, and... | $10 to wish list | |
How To Do Chemical TricksA. AndersonContaining over one hundred highly amusing and instructive tricks with chemicals.
| $10 to wish list | |
Beyond the MississippiAlbert Deane RichardsonLife and adventure on the prairies, mountains, and Pacific coast. Beyond the Mississippi is a travel log of Albert Richardson from a few years before and after the American Civil War. As the title suggests, he traveled west of the Mississippi through states and territories such as Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Iowa, Oregon, California, Nevada, etc. He describes nature, people, politics, and commerce. It includes exciting adventures as well as fairly dry facts such as how many bushels of grain a particular area produces. Overall it is quite readable and the... | $9 to wish list | |
Faro ExposedAlfred TrumbleAt one point it was believed that only one copy of this book existed. This and other myths are addressed in the introduction by Frank Lehmann, who has studied this book in detail. The book exposes various ways in which the game of Faro was crooked. It was a very popular betting game in the United States and usually was rigged in one way or another. It was published by Richard K. Fox, the proprietor of the Police Gazette.
| $19.50 to wish list | |
The Modern WizardAugust RoterbergRoterberg was a dealer, but he also wrote excellent magic books - four altogether. The Card Tricks and how to do them is an excerpt from New Era Card Tricks. So actually he wrote only three books. The Modern Wizard was his first one. It explains tricks with silks, eggs, glasses, billiard balls, coins, candles, pill boxes and more. Roterberg has a very efficient style of describing a trick. He supplies no patter or other fluff, but still manages to explain a trick thoroughly. He packs 68 tricks or methods into merely 120 pages. He closes his book with the chapter "The Art of Magic" where Roterberg gives a crash course in how to be a good magician.... | $11 to wish list | |
Latter Day TricksAugust RoterbergThis book is the continuation of The Modern Wizard; same format almost same number of pages and same style. For example the 'handkerchief productions' are continued with methods twelve, thirteen fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. You will find many interesting plots with eggs, glasses, coins, silks, tubes, plates, flowers, nest of boxes, ... 1st edition, 1896; 112 pages.
| $11 to wish list | |
New Era Card TricksAugust RoterbergNew Era Card Tricks is the masterpiece of Roterberg's publishing efforts. Scholars are pretty sure that the elusive Erdnase must have known and read this book. It is still today an extremely good and important work on cards. It is a book any serious card man should read. This is to a large part the foundation on which a lot of the later card work has been built. A good part of this book is essentially a translation of the German work Der Moderne Kartenkünstler by Friedrich W. Conradi. Richard Hatch wrote a wonderful introduction that by itself is worth reading. He starts: August Roterberg is chiefly remembered today as a pioneering early twentieth century... | ★★★★★ $12 to wish listPDF & EPUB | |
Roterberg Catalog 1August RoterbergThis is the first catalog Roterberg issued, titled: "Descriptive Catalogue of the Latest European Novelties in Magic, Second Sight, Anti-Spiritualism". Noteworthy here is that Roterberg states that he corresponds not only in English but also German, French and Volapük - a universal language created by the German catholic priest Johann Martin Schleyer in 1880. 1st edition ca. 1894, 20 pages. | $10 to wish listPDF_facsimile | |
Roterberg Catalog 5August RoterbergThe title page reads: "Superior, New and Standard Conjuring Tricks, Spiritualistic Manifestations and Books on Conjuring." Particularly noteworthy are the pages in the back where he reprints quotes and praises from customers who have read his books including John Northern Hilliard and Harry Kellar. 1st edition ca. 1898, 76 pages. | $10 to wish listPDF_facsimile | |
The 52 Wonders: Cards Manipulated by ScienceC. H. WilsonThis is quite an interesting relatively early book on card moves, tricks and cons. It was published in 1877. Some believe that the author C. H. Wilson could be the elusive Erdnase, the author of The Expert at the Card Table, because the S.W.E. Shift is explained in The 52 Wonders. Chapters are:
| $5 to wish list | |
Isn't It Wonderful?Charles BertramA history of magic interwoven with Charles Bertram's recollections. From the introduction: The profession of conjuring, if not the most ancient, is certainly one of the oldest professions in the world, and, before commencing my account of the efforts made by a humble professor of the art, I trust that the reader may be interested by a short sketch of its history. Without this, it is possible that he might receive a book relating to the conjurer's art with a shrug of the shoulders. But conjuring, if it has now drifted down to the level of mere entertainment, has played its part in the history... | $5 to wish list | |
Jack PotsCollin MacKenzieFor anybody interested in Erdnase, this poker story compilation should be of interest because many poker stories are from Chicago. It was published in 1887 which means it likely overlaps somewhat with the active time of Erdnase. We are not saying you will find a story featuring Erdnase. But such poker stories, even if they are often exaggerated or purely fictional, do provide one with some sense of the times of Erdnase. In particular, it is educational to compare the stories with the ones from Eugene Edwards' Jack Pots. There isn't any significant overlap, however one aspect is noticeably different. Eugene... | $12 to wish list | |
The Life of a ShowmanDavid Prince MillerThis is a wonderful account of a traveling showman's trials and tribulations in England and Scotland during the middle of the 19th century. Among other things, he was a conjurer. While this is not a book of tricks, one coin trick is explained as part of one story of his life. But much more interesting are the descriptions of various scams and the modus operandi of various ways to defraud the public by traveling hucksters the author encountered. The operation of the thimble rig is explained in detail. It is an account of how traveling showmen struggled essentially their entire life to make... | $10 to wish list | |
The Hand-Book of SwindlingDouglas William JerroldA humoristic manual about swindling, how to become a successful swindler, as well as why it is such a good thing - featuring the late captain Barabbas Whitefeather.
| $7 to wish list | |
The History of Playing CardsEd. S. TaylorIncludes chapters on conjuring, fortune-telling and card-sharping.
| ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | |
How to Pose as a Strong ManEdward Barton-WrightBarton-Wright, one of the first Europeans to study Japanese martial arts, explains eleven pseudo-strength tricks in words and photos. Forty years before this publication Lulu Hurst created a sensation demonstrating similar stunts as manifestations of 'unexplainable forces'. The tricks explained in this article are:
| $4 to wish list | |
The Genial ShowmanEdward Peron HingstonReminiscences 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... | $12 to wish list | |
Sleight of HandEdwin SachsThis is an all time classic with 57 beautiful illustrations. It is one of the most complete books written on magic, because it teaches both stage and close-up magic (cards, coins, silks, cups and balls, etc.), technique, presentation, and all the peripheral skills necessary for great conjuring. The official byline read: The standard texbook on how to become a magician. Sleight-of-hand... | ★★★★★ $5 to wish list | |
The Art of AmusingFrank BellewA 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. | $8 to wish list | |
MahatmaGeorge H. LittleAs Alfredson and Daily write in their Conjuring Periodical Bibliography, Mahatma is the 'first English language magical serial of any substance'. It is a fantastic resource for historians, researchers and other treasure hunters. A few of the prominent names you will find in Mahatma are Conradi, De Kolta, Downs, Elliott, Evans, Hilliar, Hoffmann, Houdini, Kellar, Leipzig, Plate, Selbit, Trewey and many more. Some interesting facts about this periodical are:
| ★★★★★ $14.90 more than onetype to choose from PDF_facsimile PDF_facsimile | |
Mahatma Volume 1 (Mar 1895 - Jun 1898)George H. LittleOn the covers you will find:
Mahatma, Volume 1, George H. Little, editor [Note: Page numbers refer to those in the PDF files when the collection was assembled. Originally each issue began with page 1. However, the original page numbers were retained for issues of The Vaudeville and Artist Era.] 184 pages
| ★★★★★ $5 to wish listPDF_facsimile | |
Mahatma Volume 2 (Jul 1898 - Jun 1899)George H. LittleOn the covers you will find:
| ★★★★★ $5 to wish listPDF_facsimile | |
Mahatma Volume 3 (Jul 1899 - Jun 1900)George H. LittleOn the covers are:
Note: Page numbers refer to those in the PDF files when the collection was assembled. Originally each issue began with page 1.
| ★★★★★ $5 to wish listPDF_facsimile | |
Physiology of Mind-ReadingGeorge Miller BeardThe type of 'mind-reading' George Beard means here is what we today call muscle-reading, which is a term that Beard himself coined. Beard describes several experiments he conducted and describes very clearly the physiology of muscle-reading, and that it is an involuntary muscle contraction that has nothing to do with animal magnetism or thought transference. 1st edition 1877; PDF 10 pages. | $5 to wish list | |
The Involuntary LifeGeorge Miller BeardThe 'involuntary life' would today be described as trance or as a hypnotic state. Beard writes: Every human being lives two lives, the voluntary, in which he acts more or less under the control of the will, and the involuntary, in which he acts automatically, and over which the will has but a limited power, or none at all. The acts of both the body and the mind, may be involuntary as will as voluntary, and in both body and mind, the two lives are constantly blended. However, he was a skeptic when it came to the popular practices and explanations of these phenomena by the means of animal... | $5 to wish list | |
The Study of Trance Muscle ReadingGeorge Miller BeardFrom the preface: The following narratives and analyses of facts relating to the investigation of important and interesting phenomena of the nervous system are published in the belief that they will be new, in whole or in part, to the majority of neurologists and practitioners, both in Europe and America. Some of the facts connected with the detailed history of muscle-reading are here put on permanent record for the first time, and have been obtained partly from memory and partly from public and private documents in my possession. It is interesting and incredible that these phenomena... | $8 to wish list | |
History of Magic and MagiciansHardin Jasper BurlingameThis is a reprint of an interesting book from 1895. Mr. Burlingame covers the earliest days of magic, then goes into detail about magic and magicians as they existed in the 19th century. This material is seldom found in magic books of today, but the man who would be a complete magician should know something of the history of the art he follows. Well written and very interesting reading. 1st edition 1895, 1st digital edition 2013, 44 pages. | ★★★★★ $8.95 to wish listPDF & EPUB | |
Herrmann the MagicianHardin Jasper BurlingameFrom the preface: Having devoted a number of years to the inventing, manufacturing and sale of many of the most popular magical apparatus made in this country, I now present to the reader, biographies of the two great conjurers known to the world under the names of Carl and Alexander Herrmann, both equally famous in their specialties. The main portion of the book is devoted to clear, compact and illustrated descriptions of the best tricks performed by the two Herrmanns, whom I unite under the appellation of Herrmann the Magician, and by other celebrated performers, such as Cazeneuve, Kellar, Vanek, Heller, Samuels,... | ★★★★★ $6 to wish list | |
HellerismHarry Hermon | ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | |
The Autobiography of an Old Sport: Fifty years at the Card TableHarry P. DodgeThe record of a career famous for adventure and vicissitude, and in which the jester won more tricks than the gamester.
| $5 to wish list | |
The Art of Modern Conjuring Magic and IllusionsHenri GarenneFrom the introduction: I have written this work not as an exposure of the art of Conjuring and Magic, but simply to act as a guide for amateurs and young beginners; therefore I shall enumerate many tricks and illusions that my young friends can perform at home amongst their numerous friends. In addition to this, I shall also enumerate those tricks and illusions which demand a larger amount of room, and also require specially constructed apparatus; such tricks the amateur would do well not to attempt, as they are only suitable for performance on a stage. I shall give a description of most... | ★★★★★ $8 to wish list | |
The GhostHenry DircksAs produced in the spectre drama, popularly illustrating the marvellous optical illusions obtained by the apparatus called the Dircksian Phantasmagoria being a full account of its history, construction, and various adaptations. Henry Dircks was the first who came up with the stage illusions that later became known as Pepper's Ghost. He had an arrangement with Pepper, they took out a patent in both their names, and Dircks did not want any monetary remuneration for it. John Henry Pepper improved the configuration to make it more practical and successfully staged it earning quite a lot of money with it. However,... | $7 to wish list |