Magic & Mentalism: page 1

A practice guide for magicians.

"As fine an exposition of this kind of material as I have ever read . . ." - Mike Close

"Fifty years from now this might be right on that shelf next to 'Magic and Showmanship'." - David Goodsell

"It will turn you into a better magician." - David Regal

What is the Ostrich Factor? As well-versed, conscientious amateurs and professionals, we know the accepted axioms of the art. But when practicing to perform, we sometimes inadvertently overlook or ignore one or more of these well-known rules. The oversight keeps our performances from being as good as they could be. We make an assumption:...

Excerpt from the introduction:

Aether was another run of ideas as monographs ... one routine or trick or idea per issue. Again, I recently thought to combine them into a collection. Ideas of mine include tricks, routines, and also handlings of various types of magic. I mainly work with sleight-of-hand with an occasional manipulative piece. Drawings and not photos, as illustrations.

I did a series of monographs at one time, one trick at a time, that I felt had unusual ideas I hadn't seen before, and sometimes variations on ideas that had been around, but handled a different way. My thinking about these went back to the New Stars of Magic which Tannen's put out. These of course were one routine explained well. Lately, I thought of bundling them together and this is the result. I used drawings and not photos.

• Introduction
• Preface by Horace Goldin
• Liquer Glass Trick
• The Simp-Bern Speller
• The Van Bern Card Penetration Mystery
• Eastern Miracles
• The Sword Card Effect
• The Card & Ribbon Effect
• The Great Long-Distance Mindreader
• The X-Ray Card Effect
• The Lighted Gas Trick
• The Sympathetic Liquids
• The Simplex Silk Penetration
• The Simplex Ribbon Effect
• Invisible Transit
• The Ten Card Effect
• Novel Cup & Ball Effect
• The Colour Spot Mystery
• Production Of Bowl Of Water And Goldfish
• The Milk & Pagoda Mystery

1st edition 1935, 30 pages; PDF 47 pages.

The three ticks in this video are variations of effects by Don Alan, Juan Tamariz, and an old-school sucker trick that appeared in Expert Card Technique.

Don Alan had a trick called Magic Ranch in which a chosen card was found in a wooden egg. I've rearranged the presentation with a new ending, the people think that a real egg is about to be cracked open in the cupped hands of the assisting spectator. The switch of the real egg for the gimmick egg is accomplished by Slydini body mechanics and within reach of anyone willing to understand and apply the concept. I also offer an alternative ending, as well as how to make the special one-way...

Creative thought for magicians.

While this ebook does have a trick section at the end, the majority of the content is dedicated to mental processes, habits, and exercises that will help you become a better and more creative magician. This is a part of being a magician that is rarely talked about, but it is more important than the latest and newest trick offering.

Excerpt from the Foreword:

Excerpt from the Foreword:

• Modus Operandi
• Foreword
• Chapter One: The "Lewis"...

With added chapters on easy magic you can do, with and without playing cards.

In this book, the secrets of ancient miracles and of modern magic have been thoroughly explained. No phase of the mystic art has been neglected. The reader is initiated into the secrets of antiquity. He is told of the methods of mediaeval wizards; and the secrets of modern wonders are disclosed to him. He is led behind the scenes to study the magic of the stage; true facts of Oriental mystery are brought before him. The secrets of the Hindu fakirs are revealed in detail, based upon the testimony of trained investigators...

This is part two in the "Modus Operandi" series. It continues with chapter 5.

• Chapter Five. Card Magic For The Platform
  • The "Perfect" Torn And Rising Card
  • Tickets, Please
  • "Stop"
  • The Imaginary Aces
  • The Jumbo Card Guillotine
• Chapter Six. The "Lewis" Utility Lift Tray
  • How To Build The "Lewis" Lift Tray
  • Methods Of Concealing The Lift
  • The "Slam-Thru" Glass Of Milk Penetration
  • Another "Magic" Welding
  • "Vanibowl"
  • "He Go - He Come Back"
• Chapter Seven. Conjuring With Cubes
  • The Escaping Cube
  • The Tantalising Tubes
  • British - Always On Top
  • The Repeating Die Through Hat

Many magicians I know are as interested in both tricks and puzzles and integrate the two.

While elaborate mathematical, logical, or chess puzzles or crosswords have little "performance value", there are many optical puzzles, geometric paradoxes, illusions, ambigrams, after-image generators, and the like, that make for an excellent lead to a magic effect, or for performance as an effect by itself, or as a memorable keepsake printed on the back of your calling card or publicity folder or even your admission tickets. They can also be used as memorable "give-aways" for your assisting spectators,...

This is an excellent but often overlooked primer on magic.

Excerpt from the introduction:

Paul Fleming wrote:

Excerpt from the preface:

All the routines revolve around the idea of beginning with no visible apparatus and having "nothing in your hands."

If you truly aspire to be a magician, you'll need to be ready to perform at a moment's notice, and that's where this book will be the best investment you make all year.

An ebook of magic as you like it unique and baffling, but light and humorous. Tricks and routines developed and used over a period of fifteen years, but were new to the magic fraternity when it was originally released because, prior to this book, they had never before been published.

John Stanfield says...

Excerpt from the introduction:

• Introduction
• A Convincing Colour-Change Wand
• The Vanishing Tube ...

Bish is the collected Kaymar Magic Advent for 2020, gathering all 24 tricks into one place. Here are the tricks, carefully explained in Liam's casual style, and the ebook features all new tricks, revealed here for the first time.

• Blockade - A Whole Chunk d' Triumph
• DIY Harry - Do-As-I-Do, and Do This Trick.
• Going The Distance - Socially Distanced Card Trick
• Imposter - An 8 Card Brainwave is Among Us!
• Three Wise Men - Jim'll Force It
• Suits You Sir - The Even Money Proposition Times Four.
• Only Transmutation - A Joker Production with a KICKER!
• Phoning It In - And The Put Away Vanish! ...

All 24 tricks are explained in detail.

1. Surprise Spell
2. Uppercut
3. Nice and Dicey
4. Lucky 13
5. Your Card Is...
6. Dis-Gardina
7. Under Milk Cup
8. Gemini Production
9. The Repeater
10. EZSP
11. Love-Craft(s)
12. Rovi-Over
13. Handy-Andy
14. Call to Arms
15. Best. Card. Trick. Ever
16. Undressed Rehearsal
17. The Xerox Effect (Stephen Tucker)
18. Uppers and Downers
19. Secret Service Subraction
20. Colours Will Tell
21. The Decoy Assembly
22. Three Four Letter Words
23. Irish Fortune Telling
24. If You Don't Like Luck

1st edition 2021, PDF 61 pages.

Here you will find all the tricks from the 2023 Kaymar Magic Advent Calendar, collected together into one ebook - 24 tricks, meticulously explained over 100 pages.

• Last Man Standing
• Lucky Break
• Cheeky Curry
• URWTU8
• Teleported
• The (4)Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Sarah Stott)
• Pack Whacker
• Flick Hoff
• Sorting Hat
• Vanishing Countdown (Jack Tighe)
• Pressure
• Picky Eater
• Alley Up
• Colourised
• High Stakes
• Slap Happy
• Final Countdown
• Blomburgers
• Mr Burns
• Thrice Predictable
• Famous Last Words
• Gemini Big Deal
• Hop, Skip and Jump
• 21 and Done

1st edition 2023, PDF 107 pages....

EXHUME: v. to dig (something) buried; to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light.

In Jon's own words:

This is a compilation of all 56 Exhumations columns from Genii starting with the first column from February 2020 to the last one in December 2024.

1. February 2020
2. April 2020: In Situ Lazy Man's Card Trick
3. May 2020 The Extremely Hidden Count...

This is clever, usable magic for table or close-up work with a minimum of skill and an emphasis on misdirection and subtle presentation. In all, a twenty-minute act or superb table routine.

In Transfix, The Pervious Coin, Extortion, Creeping and a Wrinkle on the Miser's Dream, you get some fine coin routines; and in Uncanny Rags, an Afghan Band presentation that segues into a rope routine.

The effects are accompanied by illustrations by the author.

CONTENTS:

• Introduction
• Preamble
• Transfix
• The Pervious Coin
• Extortion
• Creeping
• Uncanny Rags
• A Wrinkle on the Miser's Dream ...

Excerpt from the preface:

Assorted commercial close-up magic.

The term 'commercial' is overused in magic. Every second trick is being marketed as 'commercial' simply because the author has perhaps performed it a few times to a lay audience. The routines in this compilation are truly commercial because Jim Sisti has performed and honed them over decades in hundreds perhaps even thousands of performances. These are the routines he has earned his reputation as a top-flight close-up performer. Every detail, from the presentation to the method, has been thought through.

Excerpt from the introduction:

Excerpt from the preface:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter I The Wandering Wand
• Chapter II The Adventures Of A Thimble
• Chapter III The Card And Cigarette Trick
• Chapter IV The Jazz Ray
• Chapter V "Mademoiselle From Armentières"
• Chapter VI Spirit Photography
• Chapter VII "Holding Up The Mail"
• Chapter VIII "Patter"
• Chapter IX Setting
• Chapter X Pocket Tricks

1st edition 1924, reprinted...

This is a fascinating compilation of apparatus magic explained in text and photos.

Excerpt from the foreword:

• Foreword
• Corinda's Dictionary Memory Feat
• Claude Chandler's Window Penetration
• J. F. Orrin's Match-Box Trick
• The Veroni House Of Magic Presents Gene Morrell's Miniature Illusion ...