Sort by: Product Name Author+ | Listed | Price |
WhispersJon RacherbaumerThis treatise is a detailed exploration of a glorified location-divination, framed by a whimsical conceit - namely that an inanimate object - a playing card - is the supposed agency that makes the entire trick work. In this regard it was an effort to upgrade an essentially puerile divination effect. Here is the basic approach or plot: The way the performer learns the identity of a freely selected card is apparently due to enlisting the assistance of another playing card (usually a Queen), which whispers the name of the selection to the magician. The magician then acts as the Queen's proxy... | ★★★★★ $12 to wish list | |
Fingerprint DossierJon RacherbaumerFrom the Preface: I must confess that my initial reaction to the Fingerprint Trick was tepid. There was no tension or conflict and it came off as being a glorified location trick. But one aspect interested me. It violated one of magic's cardinal rules - namely, never tell an audience what you are going to do before you do it. And, worse, in this case the performer divulges how he plans do it. Every presentation explains how the trick ostensibly works: The selection is found by detecting the thumbprint left on it. This is a plausible explanation, but as the trick unfolds, this casual explanation... | ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | |
TosherooniqueJon RacherbaumerFrom the Foreword: "Tosheroon" is an odd but memorable name. It sounds amusing and somewhat incantatory - especially for a card trick. Bob Driebeck, who dubbed it, knew that the word was Cockney slang for a half-crown, which is also the type of coin he used to perform this offbeat card trick. The basic effect is a transformation done with an impediment in place - the impediment or obstruction in this case is a coin, which is placed onto the face of the card that eventually changes. Effect: A card is selected and lost in the deck. Then a borrowed coin is marked and placed onto the face... | ★★★★★ $12 to wish list | |
Shades of WowJon RacherbaumerElucidations of a classic card trick: The Biddle Trick The basic plot is fairly straightforward: A card is selected and in the process of determining its identity it is winnowed down to five possibilities. Then, in a surprising act of differentiation, the selection disappears from this fiveācard packet and reappears elsewhere. In most cases, the selection ends up face up in the middle of a spread deck. This trick has been variously named but ultimately it was christened "The Biddle Trick", named after Elmer Biddle who published the trick in Genii magazine in 1947. It marks the first appearance of the well-known... | ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | |
Further MoreJon RacherbaumerThis manuscript is an exploration of the origin and evolution of one of the most dependable, commercial, and semiautomatic card tricks extant. Even its name is unusual and memorable - "Further Than That"
| ★★★★★ $10 to wish list | |
Speeding BulletsJon RacherbaumerA survey of the seven-card assembly. This ebook is a survey of the Seven-Card Assembly, a subcategory of Ace Assembly. Its name due to the number (7) of principal cards used, which makes it different from other Ace Assemblies. Standard versions use sixteen cards - four Aces and twelve X-cards - and when the preliminary layout is made, the Aces are dealt into a T-formation and three X-cards are placed onto each Ace. In a Seven-Card Assembly three X-cards are added onto only three of the Aces. The Leader Ace lies alone. This reduces the duration it takes to set the stage. Then the four Aces... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | |
Tickling TekelJon RacherbaumerFrom the Introduction: The purpose of this compilation is to incentivize and "tickle" students to reexamine the Mene-Tekel deck and reconsider its possibilities. This has been done before and as recently as 2003 when Chris Wardle (via Paul Hallas) published a 27 page booklet titled Investigating the Mene-Tekel Deck (Magic's Forgotten Trick Deck). ... We begin with Ed Marlo's groundbreaking addition of what he called the Roughed Mene-Tekel. We end with ends with David Britland's clever routines. In between there the other contributions are meant to provide further context and stimulation - enough to tickle anyone's fancy. At least that's the presumptive impulse that led to its creation.
| ★★★★★ $13 to wish list | |
Dunbury DelusionsJon Racherbaumer"It is one of the very best tricks which can be done for close-up work." - Hugard and Braue from Show Stoppers With Cards From the Foreword: The Dunbury Delusion has an illustrious pedigree that has been up, down, and all around the magic scene for at least 100 years. Charlie Miller's method that was published in Expert Card Technique in 1940, more or less branded his name on it, but seven year earlier Victor Farelli published a modified version ("The Partagas Sell") in Farelli's Card Magic. He did not claim paternity but credited a Spanish magician named Partagas who apparently taught him the trick in 1908. Basic Plot: A selection "lost" in a deck is successfully found by using three... | ★★★★★ $16 to wish list | |
Grand HotelJon RacherbaumerAn exploration of the Hotel Trick, aka "A Night on the Town". A trick with a good plot is half the battle. This one has an interesting plot that can be styled and modified to fit your needs. Sleight-less and sleight-of-hand versions are being taught. Jon was introduced to this trick by Persi Diaconis in the 1970s. In this ebook he has traced it back to its roots, and forward to modern variations and spin-offs. The core effect: Two Queens and four Kings are shown. The Queens are tabled face down next to each other. Two Kings are added onto each Queen to form two three-card packets. After... | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | |
BlufferyJon RacherbaumerJon explores the bluff pass and its spin-offs.
| ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | |
Facsimile 1Jon Racherbaumer
1st edition 1983, 2nd edition 1994, 50 pages; 1st digital edition 2020, PDF 52 pages. | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | |
Facsimile 2Jon Racherbaumer
1st edition 1994, 50 pages; 1st digital edition 2020, PDF 55 pages. | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | |
Facsimile 3Jon RacherbaumerThis issue of Facsimile includes the complete contents of the first two (and only) issues of Jon Racherbaumer's periodical Marlophile. Jon has reformatted Marlophile, and added some additional routines.
1st edition 1995, 50 pages; 1st digital edition 2020, PDF 50 pages. | ★★★★★ $15 to wish list | |
Elevation OvationsJon RacherbaumerAlthough Marlo is generally credited with the Elevator plot, analysis of the action steps taken in the Four Burglars, Jacob's Ladder, and Marlo's Penetration exhibit procedural similarities and could be presented as "elevating tricks" if accompanying patter expressed the "elevator" analogy. As far as the "elevator" trope is concerned, we can credit Bill Simon for naming rights.
| $19.50 to wish list | |
SunkenJon RacherbaumerA deep dive into a key principle - the sunken key card.
| ★★★★★ $12 to wish list | |
May The Flop Be With YouJon RacherbaumerRemixing the Gardner-Marlo poker deal - its history and histrionics.
1st edition 2020, PDF 50 pages.... | ★★★★★ $12 to wish list | |
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 | |
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 |