Catalogs: page 2

This catalog includes some error corrections for the prior catalog, advertises Holmes' Conjuring Serial No. 4 A Mind Reading Act, and then it describes items No. 400 to No. 481.

1st edition 1916, 36 pages.

Just 15 years after WWII, life was good. As the world rebuilt itself, prosperity reigned. Returning soldiers who needed an outlet to keep their competitive edge found what they were looking for in gambling. Neighborhood poker games, back-alley craps, and illegal casinos were everywhere if you knew where to look. Grifters followed the money trail, too, and not all of them relied on skill. Many used devices such as holdouts, shiners, gaffed cards and crooked dice to ensure that they fleeced the lambs just as surely as if the marks openly handed their cash to the swindler.

Catering to the demand...

A massive catalog featuring magic tricks in all categories from balls and birds to cards and coins and wands and watches.

1st edition 1976, 516 pages.

A massive catalog featuring magic tricks in all categories from balls and birds to cards and coins and wands and watches.

1st edition 1993, 575 pages.

Magic products are being offered in the following categories:

• Accessories
• Advertising
• Ball Section
• Bird Cages
• Block Tricks
• Books
• Bottle Tricks
• Candle Tricks
• Cane Tricks
• Card Magic
• Change Bags
• Cigarette Tricks
• Close-Up, Pocket and Intimate Magic
• Coin and Money Magic
• Comedy Effects
• Cups and Balls
• Dice Magic
• Egg Tricks
• Escapes
• Flower Magic
• Glasses
• Illusions
• Kid-Show Magic
• Light Bulbs
• Linking Rings
• Liquid Magic
• Livestock Tricks
• Mental Effects
• Milk Tricks
• Miscellaneous
• Paper Magic
• Production Magic
• Rice Bowls
• Rope Tricks
• Silk Magic
• Spook Material
• Tables
• Thimbles ...

After the index in the back is a section of 14 pages with additional products. This means it is likely that Abbott catalog #18 is pretty much identical to Abbott catalog #17 except for this final section of products.

Magic products are being offered in the following categories:

• Accessories
• Advertising
• Ball Section
• Bird Cages
• Block Tricks
• Books
• Bottle Tricks
• Candle Tricks
• Cane Tricks
• Card Magic
• Change Bags
• Cigarette Tricks
• Close-Up, Pocket and Intimate Magic
• Coin and Money Magic
• Comedy Effects
• Cups and Balls
• Dice Magic
• Egg Tricks
• Escapes
• Flower Magic
• Glasses
• Illusions
• Kid-Show Magic ...

This catalog includes a price list.

1st edition 1987, 516 pages.

A huge catalog including index and price list.

1st edition 1997, 525 pages.

Arthur P. Felsman took over August Roterberg's business. His catalog looks very similar to the Roterberg catalog with beautiful illustrations and detailed product descriptions. Compare for example with Roterberg Catalog No. 15.

1st edition 1919, 189 pages.

A long list of unbelievable variety, depth and breadth of magic tricks, illusions, apparatus, accessories and more. So much in fact that this catalog required three parts.

1st edition 1966, 432 pages.

The latest big catalog from Abbott Magic.

1st edition 2004, 472 pages.

This catalog has four color plates in the middle and a price list at the very end.

• Accessories
• Canes and Candles
• Cards
• Changing Bags and Egg Bags
• Children's Magic
• Close-Up Magic
• Comedy Magic
• Escapology
• Flowers and Plumes
• General Magic
• Illusionettes
• Liquid Magic
• Livestock Magic
• Manipulation
• Mentalism
• Money Magic
• Production Items
• Puppets and Ventriloquial Characters
• Rope Magic
• Silks and Ribbons

1st edition 1989, 613 pages.

This is a beautiful catalog with an introduction that includes photos of Thayer's residence. This catalog was published in 1936 and as the title page correctly states: "The Finest, Largest, And Most Comprehensive Compilation of Magical Goods Ever Published."

1st edition 1936; 311 pages.

This 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.

The 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.

Beautifully illustrated catalog (prior catalogs had no illustrations) with a one page list of books at the back.

1st edition 1904 (date stamped on front 18th March 1904), 45 pages.

A huge jump in size from catalog 7 to this catalog 8. Includes a separate section on books where he writes about Expert at the Card Table:

The last section is for: Practical Jokes, Puzzles and Novelties.

1st edition 1904 (date stamped on front 15th July 1904), 170...

More than 800 pages of tricks, books, illusions, and other magic products.

1st edition 1947, 832 pages.

Includes a historical sketch about Abbott Magic, how it came to be, and why it was started in Colon, MI.

1st edition 1972, 464 pages.

The catalog gives a date of 1976, but that is the same date as #21, which means they probably forgot to change it. Most likely this catalog was published in the early 1980s. The latest date mentioned anywhere in the catalog is 1981. My best guess therefore is that this catalog was released in 1981 or 1982.

1st edition 198?, 448 pages.

Magic products are being offered in the following categories:

• Accessories
• Advertising Section
• Ball Magic
• Bird Cages
• Block Tricks
• Bottle Tricks
• Candle Tricks
• Canes
• Card Magic
• Change Bags
• Cigarette Tricks
• Close-Up and Pocket Tricks
• Coin and Money Magic
• Comedy Effects
• Cups and Balls
• Dice
• Egg
• Escapes
• Flower Magic
• Trick Glasses
• Illusions
• Kid-Show Magic
• Light Bulbs
• Linking Rings
• Liquid Magic
• Water Lotas
• Milk Tricks
• Tricks with Livestock
• Mental magic
• Paper Magic
• Production Magic
• Rice Bowls
• Rope Tricks
• Silk Magic
• Spook and Spirit Material
• Modern Tables
• Thimbles ...

In this catalog Eddie Joseph and all his publications and separately sold tricks received a separate section. Abbott is also operating their own printing presses and advertises to print business cards, letterheads, handbills and show cards for magicians. A price list is included at the very end.

• Accessories
• Balls
• Bottles
• Cages
• Canes
• Cards
• Change Bags
• Cigarettes
• Club
• Comedy
• Dice
• Eggs
• Escapes
• Fish
• Flowers
• Glasses
• Illusions
• Joseph
• Light Bulbs
• Linking Rings
• Liquid
• Livestock
• Lotas
• Mental
• Milk
• Money
• Novelties
• Paper
• Parasols
• Pocket
• Printing
• Reels
• Rice Bowls
• Rising...

A Chicago dealer who did manufacture his own apparatus.

1st edition 1893, 24 pages.

This catalog describes mostly magic tricks, some magic books and a list of acting plays. Madame Inez, or just M. Inez, was married to E. M. Vernelo and she was very involved in the early years of The Sphinx mostly as editor.

1st edition 1904, 76 pages.