Biographies & History in Magic & Conjuring: page 2

The hunt to find the true identity of S. W. Erdnase, the author of The Expert at the Card Table, published in 1902 in Chicago, has been raging for more than a century. The book is as revered by gamblers and magicians as the Bible is by Christians.

One of the first and most active Erdnase hunters was well-known science writer, puzzle expert, and magician Martin Gardner, who erroneously thought he identified cardsharp and murderer Milton Franklin Andrews as being Erdnase. After Andrews, many other candidates were proposed, but none had a case strong enough to withstand scrutiny. None wrote like Erdnase, nor had sufficient opportunity, nor even...

A wonderfully interesting confession of a con man who was a contemporary of Erdnase, and just like him operated for a time while traveling with small circuses in Illinois and surrounding states. Of particular interest is a full dialog of how an unsuspecting person on the train was lured into gambling 3 card monte. The dialog demonstrates how skillfully these operatives were and how well they understood human nature. Other cons are also described in detail.

Excerpt from the preface:

A Sampling of categorized magical collectibles. Jim Kleefeld is a magic collector and writes for the M.U.M., the official organ of the S.A.M.

The Eclectic Collector will present to you a set of chapters that each delineate collectible artifacts in a category. The categories are a broad mix and the artifacts will vary in number. In some categories there are so many good examples, ten did not seem sufficient. In other categories, there are so few examples, that finding ten is extremely difficult.

Each chapter includes several photos of objects from Jim's collection within the category. These...

How does one actually become a magician - and why? Is it even possible to make a living from magic? What is life like as a magician? Are these normal people?

A person who has traveled with his art to more than 60 countries around the world will tell you his secrets. See him awarded second place world champion at the FISM World Congress of Magicians, with a show based only on sleight of hand. Learn how he became a self-taught expert manipulator. See how he booked his own gigs and was even hired as the only completely unknown actor for "The Dream Ship" on German television network ZDF. ...

"In all the world of magic, I don't think you could find a fairer, squarer person than Lewis" - Dai Vernon, Genii December 1974.

"As I look at the literary scene of magic today, the name of one man stands out above all the rest and the owner of that name is my old friend Lew Ganson." - Peter Warlock, Genii, December 1974.

Martin Breese writes in the original description of these tapes:

This is volume 2 of The Ganson Story, recorded by Martin Breese to capture some of the essence that made Lewis Ganson the great writer of magic literature that he was.

(Here you will find Volume 1.)

runtime: 1 hour

Reminiscences 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...

As 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,...

This is Goodliffe's own story. The facts and stories about Abracadabra from the man behind it all. Goodliffe has seen more magicians at work than anyone else and he has very clear views about what makes magic tick. Now that Goodliffe is no longer with us this is your only chance to hear Goodliffe speaking. Absolutely fascinating material.

[This is a licensed reproduction of the famous Magicassette series created by Martin Breese - now owned by Lybrary.com.]

runtime: 45 minutes

This is volume 2 of the fascinating memoir of Goodliffe, a unique character with wisdom you can learn a great deal from.

[This is a licensed reproduction of the famous Magicassette series created by Martin Breese - now owned by Lybrary.com.]

runtime: 45 minutes

The Colossus of Mystery.

• The Author's Acknowledgements
• Finding A Gravestone
• CHAPTER ONE: I Discover "The Great Carmo"
• CHAPTER TWO: From Cameron To Carmo
• CHAPTER THREE: Learning The Ropes, The Hard Way
• CHAPTER FOUR: Servais Le Roy
• CHAPTER FIVE: "Alma"
• CHAPTER SIX: Rita
• CHAPTER SEVEN: The Big Circus
• CHAPTER EIGHT: The Canvas Inferno
• CHAPTER NINE: The Last Ditch Fight
• CHAPTER TEN: Every Night, Something Awesome
• LA PETITE CARMO
• ADDENDUM

1st edition 2001, 80 pages; 1st digital edition 2019, 53 pages.

Includes chapters on conjuring, fortune-telling and card-sharping.

• Preface
• Part The First. The History Of Cards
  • I. Introduction
  • II. Oriental Origin Of Cards
  • III. Introduction Of Cards Into Southern Europe
  • IV. Date Of Introduction Of Cards
  • V. Introduction Of Cards Into France
  • VI. The Cards Of Charles VI
  • VII. Invention Of The French Cards And Game Of Piquet
  • VIII. Cards In England
  • IX. History Of Tarots, As Told By Themselves
  • X. Modern History Of French And English Cards
  • XI. The Application Of Cards To Science
  • XII. Card Miscellanies
• Part The Second. Card Playing And Card Players...

This is a beautiful comics title which entertains as much as it informs you about the history of magic. See illustrated stories from the lives of Robert-Houdin and Harry Houdini. Learn the secrets of some of the most famous stage illusions as well as the 'most marvelous trick in the world'.

This was issued as #23 in the 'World Around Us' series. Art by George Evans and Gray Morrow.

The Illustrated Story of Magic was never reprinted. This digital edition is the first republication of this title in the Classics Illustrated series. Additionally it is the first digital edition of any of the many titles from the Classics...

You will find three bankruptcy files in this PDF, one with No. 842 from 1899 which consist of 37 pages, one with No. 8576 from 1903 with 476 pages, which is the Jamieson-Higgins bankruptcy, and the bankruptcy No. 8577 from 1903 with 624 pages. The particularly interesting one is the last No. 8577 which was the James McKinney & Co. bankruptcy.

The Jamieson-Higgins bankruptcy is included because James McKinney printed essentially all of the books Jamieson-Higgins published and they were also financially entangled.

It also tells the tale how Chris Wasshuber located the files, had them digitized, and how...

Life, Magic and The Forks Hotel. For nearly 40 years Karl worked his magic behind the bar of the famed Forks Hotel in Buffalo, NY. Magicians from all over the world would flock to the bar to see Karl and Eddie Fechter work. Many magicians got their start at the Forks. In this 45 minute interview Karl talks about how he got his start in magic, how he met Eddie Fechter, The Forks hotel, how the FFFF convention got started and more, all while telling some great stories. This is a great tale of magic history.

Excerpt from the introduction by Robert Parrish:

This 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...

Being a record of his experience as a white slave; a soldier in the Union Army; a professional gambler; a patron of the turf; a variety theater and minstrel manager; and, finally, a convert to the Murphy Cause, and to the Gospel of Christ.

This book is an illustration of this paragraph by S.W. Erdnase:

This is considered one of the best early histories of magic.

From the Preface:

Martin Breese spent a substantial amount of time to piece together routines and information about Al Koran with the help of many of his friends, people who worked with Al Koran in some form or another, information on audio recordings, magazine articles and many other bits and pieces of information. Originally published in 1983, but revised by Martin Breese before his untimely death in 2012.

The ebook contains virtually every Al Koran effect as performed on TV. It analysis the effect and the method, then provides the exact words of patter as used by Al Koran.

There is a listing of all...

David Alexander and Richard Kyle would speak for hours on the phone exchanging their thoughts, their insights, and their discoveries regarding Erdnase. Richard Kyle would often write a letter to David afterward to memorialize...

The only biography of the master magician and spy instructor John Mulholland including his work for the CIA.

"John Mulholland is surely one of the most fascinating personalities in magic history. For his work to advance conjuring as a recognized art, he deserves tremendous respect, and no serious student of magic will want to skip this book." - Michael Claxton, Magic Magazine, Feb 2009.

"I can even imagine him up in heaven huddling with Christopher, Houdini, Blackstone and Thurston as they discuss your biography. Their applause is loud enough to be heard on planet Earth." - Maurine Brooks Christopher

"I am an avid reader of books, all...

This is the audio-book version of The MagiCIAn: John Mulholland's Secret CIA Life. Listening time over 9 hours. The author, Ben Robinsion, reads the entire book. Additionally he also reads ten letters to and from Mulholland previously unpublished and not part of the book or ebook. Here is the first half of the first chapter:

"John Mulholland is surely one of the most fascinating personalities in magic history. For his work to advance conjuring as a recognized art, he deserves tremendous respect, and no serious student of magic will want to skip this book." - Michael Claxton, Magic Magazine, Feb 2009.

"I can even imagine...

Leo Behnke worked for many years for Paulson, a playing card manufacturer. He describes in this ebook the history of playing card production up to the process that is used for todays cards. He also describes in detail the 9 editions of the Magic Castle cards and how one can identify them.

Beyond the interesting historical and technical descriptions Leo is offering, this information can also be quite helpful in creating a script or interesting line of presentation for a trick or routine.

The contents of this ebook was presented at a Magic Collectors meeting in Las Vegas, April 8 2005. ...