Magic & Mentalism: page 453

This is a book on how to create original effects and routines, for your show or act, for lectures, for books and magazines, for marketing yourself or through dealers. Ian Adair was a prolific and successful trick creator. He shares in this publication his approach and lessons learned.

Be original, stand out from the others, create new ideas!

Table of Contents

• About the author
• Testimonials
• Introduction
• Preface
• Thinking tricks... What this book offers you!
• 1 Researching what's been previously originated
  • Studying the classics
  • Studying magic inventors past and present
  • Studying all...

It contains two stacks, each made with 52 standard playing cards that contain bracelet sequences.

The Ruby Stack

The deck is cut and six cards are dealt out to six people. The people with cards that have a red suit stand up. The performer names all six cards.

The Ruby Stack is a full-deck stack where it's very easy to calculate the suit and value of the first card of six consecutive cards merely by knowing which of the six cards have a suit that is either a Heart or a Diamond. Alternatively, knowing which cards are a Club or a Diamond allows identifying the sixth card. The exact same...

A card is genuinely freely selected (and can be signed if required) and is shuffled into the deck, which is placed back into the box. A half dollar, which is marked with a sticker bearing a spectator's initials, is taken into the performer's hand from where it instantly vanishes.

With empty hands, the deck is slid from the box and is cut to reveal the marked coin resting on the back of one particular card in the centre of the pack. This card is turned over to reveal that it is the selection.

1st edition 2026, video 15:36.

This is my Ace Assembly sequence: four Aces vanish from three packets and assemble together. In the finale, the Aces are redistributed into four piles. But it doesn't end there - if the performer can truly transpose cards at will, the four Aces can even switch places with the four Aces from another deck.

1st edition 2026, video 11:27.

This is nothing short of extraordinary. Here is an impromptu card mystery that has it all - A startling transposition of two cards merely thought of!

Based on an original idea from George G. Kaplan, author of that wonderful text The Fine Art Of Magic, this 21st-century revision from Ian Baxter will stop audiences in their tracks. Kaplan's original necessitated a set of duplicate cards, but this new handling does not. No gimmicks, accessories, fake cards, strangers or extras of any kind. This baffling crowd pleaser is totally off the cuff and can be performed at a...

A highly visual coincidence effect with an unexpected, jaw-dropping finale!

The performer introduces a packet of eight half-jumbo playing cards and a small envelope to two spectators.

First, he shuffles the cards by dealing them into two piles and placing one pile on top of the other. He repeats the process as many times as spectator 1 wishes. He then forms two smaller piles and hands the remaining cards to spectator 1. Spectator 1 places this remainder on top of either pile, thereby eliminating it, and looks at the card on top of the other pile. The same procedure is repeated with spectator...

Imaginary Card At Number Not Only Thought

A brand new and incredible (automatic) mentalism effect where the illusionist will manage to get a spectator to find a card that he has only thought of at the same own number!

After showing a deck of cards to the audience, he shuffles and cuts and completes. He then hands it to a spectator, who sits on the opposite side of the table, asking him to take it under the table so that no one can see it, and to cut it again, at any point, and complete. After that, once he has the deck back from under the table, the magician does the same thing, without...

Carta Immaginaria Al Numero Solamente Pensato

Un inedito effetto (Automatico) di Mentalismo in cui lo spettatore troverà la CARTA SOLAMENTE PENSATA al proprio NUMERO!

Dopo averlo mostrato al pubblico, mescola e taglia un mazzo di carte. Poi lo consegna ad uno spettatore, che fa sedere al lato opposto del tavolo, chiedendogli di portarlo sotto, in modo che non risulti visibile a nessuno, e di tagliarlo ancora una volta in un punto qualsiasi. Dopodiché, riavuto indietro il mazzo da sotto al tavolo, il mago fa la stessa cosa, senza poter vedere le carte. Lo riporta poi sul tavolo e chiede...

This is Atlas Novelty Co's catalog from 1901. Atlas Novelty was owned by Emil Sorenson (stage name E. S. Burns), and it played a role in the Erdnase saga because it was the first to advertise The Expert at the Card Table at a reduced price in February 1903. Vernelo was the first to advertise the book in November 1902.

Noteworthy is the fact that Vernelo used the same title, Art of Magic Thoroughly Explained for some of his catalogs for his Wayne Novelty Co., and for Vernelo & Company. Sorenson and Vernelo collaborated on projects. They even copyrighted this catalog together. ...

We feel this is the Holy Grail of gimmicked card effects. At a 1971 lecture in New Orleans, Bro. John Hamman exhibited this masterpiece to a small group of stunned magicians. To construct and perform it requires a glue stick, a pair of scissors, minimum DIY skills, and half a brain. The video demonstration below speaks for itself.

1st edition 2026, video 2:35

The rise and fall of a magic superstar.

Discover the incredible, untold saga of one of the 20th century's most prolific and enigmatic illusionists: Chang.

Born in Panama in 1889 as Juan José Pablo Jesorum, the magician known as Chang was a towering figure of 20th-century illusionism who captivated audiences on nearly every continent. From his early days as an assistant to the irascible "Great Raymond" to his peak as the star of the lavish "Trip to Hades" revue, Chang's career spanned six decades of triumph and eventual tragedy. He became a master of "Oriental" style magic, performing...

The story of Annie Oakley's legendary trick shooting in the Old West lays the foundation for a magical challenge with a selected card secured in the middle of a deck. With the audience providing the sound effects, the challenge is met when the helper's finger gun makes the chosen card fly out, complete with a burn hole from the imaginary bullet. Another legend is born!

Shooting Card was one of my pet routines and I loved every chance I had to perform it. I could create pure wonder by having a young volunteer 'shoot' their selected card out of the deck in my hand. The flying card is memorable...

A number of spectators appear to demonstrate some psychic ability when they create magical moments that reveal colours randomly assigned to them, and which, in theory, they should not be able to know had been allocated to them.

Simple to do, this is a nice laid-back mental/magic routine designed for parlour performance and which requires just a few simple props that you will probably already have or which you can easily acquire or make.

1st edition 2026, video 17:17.

The spectator freely rolls four dice. The performer deals the corresponding number of cards for each roll, forming four piles. The performer then explains that the top faces give one set of numbers and the bottom faces give another, and has the spectator turn the dice over 180 degrees. The dealing continues according to these new numbers. When all the cards are dealt, the face cards of the four piles are all Kings. The performer asks why we look at both the top and bottom of the dice - because the four piles must also be read both ways. The bottom cards are turned over to reveal four Aces. ...

Themed card mysteries are certainly not new. Many of them are tired, worn out, horribly dated, and probably best left forgotten. Even in their day, these forced presentations, spiked with corny patter, invariably put audiences to sleep. Who wants to be supposedly entertained by a magician who is a crashing bore?

Here is an up-to-the-minute card mystery from Ian Baxter that will leave them scratching their heads. This is top drawer material - easy to perform, within range of the most basic card handler, yet fast, mystifying and amusing.

The basic 'Cops and Robbers' theme evidenced here...

Effect: A letter card, which appears to be a mistake, is placed on the table without explanation. The spectator sees 32 different lettered cards. The cards are shuffled. The spectator freely selects four cards and arranges them to form a word. The mistake card is turned over - it matches the spectator's word!

A "mistake" that turns into a miracle!

Imagine placing a single card on the table - a card that appears to be nothing more than a scribbled mistake. You then introduce a deck of 32 lettered cards. Your spectator sees that the cards are all different and is even allowed to shuffle...

A fascinating automatic effect in which the illusionist manages to accurately predict the two cards on which the spectator will end his imaginary journey through time.

A brand new amazing (self-working) card magic effect where the mentalist will be able to predict the outcome of an imaginary journey through time, between the past and the future, which he will undertake with a spectator, using a simple deck of cards.

After showing it to the audience, he shuffles and has the deck cut, then extracts a first and a second prediction cards and, after cutting it himself, hands it to the spectator...

Un affascinante effetto Automatico in cui l'illusionista riesce a predire con esattezza le due carte su cui lo spettatore finirà un suo immaginario Viaggio nel Tempo!

Un nuovissimo effetto (Self-Working) di Cartomagia dove il mentalista predice l'esito di un immaginario viaggio nel tempo, tra passato e futuro, che intraprenderà con uno spettatore, servendosi di un semplice mazzo di carte.

Dopo averlo mostrato al pubblico, mescola e fa tagliare il mazzo, poi estrae una prima ed una seconda carta PREDIZIONE e, dopo averlo tagliato a sua volta, lo consegna allo spettatore perché volti...

MISERS DREAM
No sleight of hand method can match this extraordinary illusion that Alexander has created for this classic effect.

BOXED TRANSPOSITION
A signed card flies to card case while both are in full view. Then comes a real puzzle climax.

FORTE X
Whatever card your spectators are thinking of, you have it already predicted! A real stunner!

POROUS PLASTIC
Three silver dollars penetrate a clear plastic ziplock three times. Can also be done with cookies for the kiddies.

GROUNDHOG DAY
Experimental magic based on deja vu. Experimental magic based on deja vu.

BEAN COUNTER
Can...

Pastiche II, loosely speaking, is more info. Its value depends on you - how your thinking is affected and, more importantly, if you can use anything in a meaningful way. Otherwise, it's glut soup, idle message units to fill the white space loathed by men who would be Erdnase.

I hope there are differences that make a difference.

• Hull-Scam
• Dry-Dock Divination
• Nominal Nexus
• Dunbury Lie Speller
• Eighteen-Card Version
• Guardian Angel
• How Big and Where?
• Blank-Wave II
• Hummer's Dream Scheme
• Lighter-Side
• Dueling Card Tricks
• Biddle Thought
• Initial Shock

1st edition 1993,...

An amazing routine of three linked effects with cards cut in half

Effect:

A deck of cards (giant or normal) cut in half is shuffled and divided into two piles. One of these is chosen by a spectator, who cuts it and sets it aside. From the other pile, a spectator touches any card, which is left face up in its original position among the others. The two piles are distributed by taking the respective cards from the top and distributing them simultaneously to the bottom. The card that corresponds to the one turned over in the other pile is set aside with it. No pair of cards forms a whole...

A genuinely freely selected card (which can be signed if desired) is shuffled back into a deck. The performer then mimes the removal of that card invisibly and hands it to the spectator to hold for a moment. The cards are then spread face up to show that the chosen card is no longer in the pack.

Squaring the deck, the spectator is invited to push the invisible card he holds face up into the now face down pack. Immediately, the cards are ribbon spread face down again across the table to reveal the selection face up in the centre! Just a regular deck required, straightforward handling,...

The spectator freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The magician inserts two Jokers, and the spectator table-riffle shuffles and cuts the cards. The Jokers progressively close in and finally sandwich the selection. On top of that, during the shuffles the spectator also separates the deck into three piles and locates the other three cards of the same value!

Performance transcript:

• This routine uses two Jokers.
• Have the spectator point to a card at random.
• Assume this is the selection.
• Have them note the card.
• Return the selection to the center.
• Give the deck a shuffle. ...

The spectator takes half the deck, shuffles it, and then slides the bottom card out from the packet. After they shuffle the other half of the deck, they place it on top of that card and look at it - all while the magician's back is turned. After shuffling the entire deck together, the magician identifies the spectator's chosen card without asking a single question.

The spectator chooses and shuffles their own packet, selects a card while your back is turned, and then shuffles the entire deck themselves. You never ask a single question.

Instead of a simple "this is your card" reveal,...