From the introduction:
One of the things that I had to come to grips with when I became a full-time professional performer more than 20 years ago was that I needed to stop focusing on tricks that I liked and had to find ones that my spectators liked. I also decided to try and make my presentations less expositional ("Watch this coin…" kind of stuff) and more about personal expression – letting the audience get to know me perhaps a little bit better as a result of the magic.
This manuscript is the result of my explorations into the Color-Changing Knives. I always loved the trick but...
U. F. Grant contributed some of his best material to the Tarbell Course in magic. Most of this material is unique to the Tarbell Course and does not appear elsewhere. Before Grant died, he compiled a manuscript containing all of the material he contributed. It ranges from close up to stage illusions. A lot of magicians don't have the original Tarbell Course, so here is your chance to get all of the tricks he created and contributed in one place. Fully illustrated and one of the best buys in magic. This is stuff you will use and do and as Harlan Tarbell said, some of the best magic in his course.
One of the best tricks that Grant created was Ghost...
Imagine being able to offer a challenge that you will do a trick with any object, any member of the audience might have on them. Yes, you can do just that and with complete safety and no fear of failure.
The advertising and publicity possibilities with this act are unlimited. Challenge your friends or family to stump you. Advertise that if someone in the audience stumps you, then they don't pay your show fee. This will give you a competitive edge over other magicians in your area.
HOW WAS THIS ACT CREATED: At a meeting of the I.B.M, Grant commented to another magician, "Wouldn't it be...
This rare manuscript by U. F. Grant, originally sold as The Devil's Scrapbook, contains a lot of interesting material. Hidden in its pages are some little gems that you will not find anywhere else. There are no long descriptions of the methods, as Grant himself explains. He goes directly to the point. The style is typical of Grant and we made only some minor corrections of typos.
From the introduction:
This is a collection of picked items taken from an exclusive scrapbook....items that would have normally been sold separately at One...Two....Three Dollars A Piece. We are not going to...
In the 1960s U. F. Grant release his last set of secrets. He sold these as Grant's Secret Service. These secrets sold for a dollar each. You get 24 secrets in one PDF. Here is what you get:
1. Aerial Fishing - Catching live gold fish on end of line . . . Any pole and line . . . Items in local stores.
2. Dramatic Pantomime Torn Card - Card tossed in air, caught and torn into small pieces . . . Visibly restored, as tossed in air. Card actually torn, not pulled apart like old methods.
3. Nu-Question Answering - Written questions sealed in envelopes, collected and mixed . . . Place each...
From the foreword:
Mr. U. F. Grant was born in Millerton, New York on January 12, 1901. Now resides in Pittsfield, Massachusetts where he plays dates and conducts a Magic mail order trade. Ever since eight years of age he has been fooling with Magic. And to date he has invented and created over 200 new tricks and improvements on other effects. His photo appeared on the cover of The Sphinx for September 1928. His contributions to The Sphinx runs into many dozens which were well received. Mr, Grant also has received many favorable comments on his various original tricks from practically every well known...
65 tricks, gags, tips and ideas with money, cards, wands, cigarettes, watches, rings and more.
This is an interesting compilation of material - a mix of short portraits and Goldston's personal recollections of various magicians - some famous, some not, as well as some of their tricks and secrets. The result is a fairly extensive collection of tricks of all kinds and denominations. Includes many illustrations and photos of the contributors.
The first edition was issued in the same style as Goldston's famous Locked Books series, but without the clasp.
Excerpt from the introduction:
Great Magicians' Tricks is divided into two complete parts, "Magicians of the Past" and "Modern Magicians."...
From the introduction by Horace Goldin:
The present book is, I think, one of Will Goldston's best perhaps - the best. I am quite certain that the man who cannot learn magic from this book will never be a magician. All kinds of tricks are clearly explained and, to make quite sure that his readers will understand every word, the author has supplemented his clear explanations of tricks with numbers of equally clear illustrations. Looking through the book I find that in many places the letterpress is hardly necessary; the pictures "do the trick".
I should like to add a word of advice to any young man who...
Excerpt from the Foreword:
In this book, again you will find not only tricks that work, but more important, entertaining close-up routines, with the accent on entertainment. Some of the effects may not be new, but they all have a most unusual twist, or that little something that makes them different.
As long as I have known Tony Griffith, which is over ten years now, he has never been contented to purchase a trick and do it as per instructions. He is a firm believer in reading the mechanics of the trick, then throwing the working and routine away, and starting from scratch. These then...
Here's a great collection of self-workers that can be achieved with some of the stuff most magicians will have at hand. For a couple of effects, you'll have to buy some items, but you won't have to spend more than a few dollars. And it will be well worth it!
Eight effects, all easy to do. Including:
EAT TO THE BEAT - a fun effect using a balloon and a free choice of card ...
I PREDICT A RIOT - The magician makes three predictions and the first two are wrong... but what about the third?
SIGHT FOR SORE EYES - A pirate's eye-patch and you'll be able to make a fabulous prediction. ...
Over 30 easily learned mind reading routines to baffle and entertain friends and audiences anywhere a phone exists. Although this was written at a time mobile phones were not available, many of these miracles are directly applicable today where a cell phone is pretty much available anywhere.
Some effects require elaborate preparation, others can be performed at a moments notice. Several are the creation of the author, but most are adaptations of known methods to the telephone.
Forman discusses three groups of phone tricks. The first group consists of code routines. The data to be conveyed...
This is a substantial collection of magic tricks in a wide variety of categories, including puzzles, stunts, and science experiments.
From the Introduction:
Here, as always, I have assembled a varied lot of material in the hope that all tastes will be satisfied. It is all original; or as much so as conjuring creations usually are. I am particular in this regard, for I am almost morbidly sensitive to any charge of "piracy." This is strange when one considers that mine is the honour of having introduced the Jolly Roger as a conjuring property.
This ebook contains five full length effects, achieved with minimum sleights, all based on the plot, intrigue and characters from the popular board game Cluedo, or Clue, as it is known in the States. Each effect involves and engages the audience fully and are easy to do. All you need to do is provide the dramatic art bit!
Murdered (Again!)
As Dr. Black moves around each room in his mansion his killer anticipates every move. Moved by a spectator, with free choice of room or direction, around a plan of his home. Dr. Black is eventually cornered in a room previously predicted.
Choose your...
When one of magic's most clever minds teams up with an award-winning magician and illustrator, you know the result will be unique effects that play strong and is so clever that even magicians are fooled. And that's what you get with Hahne and Berg's Here's Magic.
There is literally something for every performer within these 96 pages. Effects with cards, coins, silks, a gambler's monte effect using a single matchbook, club magic, a stage illusion that predates Copperfield's Statue of Liberty vanish by some 50 years (but with a similar method), mentalism effects, the award-winning poker chip...
Seven years in the making! Another great book by the co-author of Here's Magic.
Magician-dealer Joe Berg reveals 23 secrets of magic that, prior to the release of this book, had never before been divulged. With the assistance of Martin Gardner, Berg reveals his best, tested tricks and routines that magicians of every ilk will put to immediate use.
Featuring killer effects such as the "Adhesive Tape Thumb-Tie" that, unlike a $25 manuscript that uses red electrician's tape, works with any tape and uses no external gimmicks. Or how about "The Magical Hatchery" — a cute effect that's a hit for club workers.
Close-up...
A complete and practical guide to drawing-room and stage magic for professionals and amateurs, including a complete exposure of the black art.
Excerpt from the introduction:
Do not cultivate quick movements; at the same time it will never do to be painfully slow; but endeavor to present your tricks in an easy-going, quiet, graceful manner. It is generally understood that “the quickness of the hand deceives the eye,” but this is entirely erroneous. It is impossible for the hand to move quicker than the eye can follow, as can be proved by experiment. The deception really lies in the...
From coin tricks to card tricks, black art, mindreading and even ventriloquism, this work is meant as an introduction for the budding magician and showman.
Excerpt from the introduction:
Magic naturally separates into two divisions: One, as performed by pure sleight-of-hand with ordinary objects; and the other, which depends upon apparatus or mechanical appliances; and these are called respectively Drawingroom, and Grand or Stage Magic. The former is made up of feats depending upon manual dexterity, chemical combinations, and arithmetical problems. Grand magic, likewise, consists of...
This is a great collection of tricks from a list of top-notch contributors.
From the introduction:
For six years, Al and I cooperated in a modest venture titled The New Jinx. It was a monthly magic journal conceived out of certain personal ambitions of mine. The first was to attempt a living memorial to the memory of Ted Annemann, creator of the original Jinx and an individual who has captured my interest more than any other single person I can think of. Next, I wanted to express my own personal viewpoints on the existing state of "professionalism" in stage magic and mentalism. Such a journal would...
The best magic that you're not doing. This brand new eBook is a road map to great magic you already own...
For several years, the last item in my occasional Newsletters was a 'Hidden Gem' - a killer, overlooked trick that's already published somewhere; a book, magazine, eBook, blog or very occasionally a commercial release. Never from a DVD or video download. These are tricks that define the very concept of 'hidden in print'. In each entry I list the trick, where you can find it, why I love it and why you should look it up. I always describe the effect, occasionally the presentation, but never...
More killer magic that you're not doing. A guidebook to fabulous but forgotten material curated by Mark Elsdon.
He has been making notes and sticking Post-its in all his books for decades, so he has hundreds and hundreds of great tricks book-marked, annotated and logged, and after some (not so subtle) prompting by friends he finally decided to collect 100 of them together and publish them in an ebook.
That book - Hidden Gems - proved far more popular than he ever expected. So here we are with Vol. 2 and another 100 killer tricks that most of us have either forgotten about or never even seen before....