Cards in Magic & Mentalism: page 2

Twenty-one card tricks by one of the most creative card man alive.

1st edition, 1994.

AUTO - SPLIT: A mysterious double card revelation, where a spectator manages to separate the colours of the cards with the exception of two selections. Interestingly, you never touch the cards!

THE SUABIAN TWIST: There have been several combinations of Dai Vernon's 'Twisting the Aces' and 'The Hofzinser Ace Problem' over the years. If the following version has any merit, it is the simple means by which the one at a time reversal is accomplished.

AURA BEST: This is a fairly puzzling routine based on...

Peter Duffie selected self-working as well as skill-required card tricks with a mix of interesting effects.

1st edition, 1993

DEEP THOUGHTS: The following effect uses the Ed Balducci Cut Deeper Force and adds some logic to the procedure by making each stage of the cutting process important.

DOUBLE DECKER: The following trick Is a direct variation of an intriguing sandwich effect entitled 'Predict Wich', published by Jerry Sadowitz in the July 1992 issue of Magic.

MAGICIAN: Among the many brilliant concepts in 'The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley' is an item called, 'Australian Self-Help'. What follows...

Seventeen excellent card routines from an innovative card man.

1st edition, 2000.

FREE AS A BIRD: This effect is a two card discovery that I find quite effective. It uses the Hamilton/Finnell Free Cut Principle - a visual deception of the highest order.

WEDLUCK: The trick that follows is a simple, yet effective, royal marriages effect using the Rusduck Stay Stack principle. A Stay Stack is a mirror stack that retains its properties after certain shuffling.

THE PARANORMAN: A chosen card is found using three unknown numbers. This uses the Norman Gilbreath Principle. Before commencing set...

Twentyone fantastic tricks with cards. Comes with several photos for a better and clearer description. If I had to get one book by Peter Duffie, this would be it.

1st edition, 2000.

KICK-START ACES: A spectator locates the four Aces in your deck (without looking!).

SWEET SIXTEEN: You show the four Fours which you point out total 16. You turn one face up. The face up four splits into two Twos. This leaves two face down cards. Question: "If the cards total 16, what should the remaining two face down cards total?" The audience reply, "Twelve?" "That's right," you say. "Well, actually it's...

Fourteen wonderful card routines by one of Scottland's card experts, Peter Duffie. One routine, 'Blendid', particularly caught my eye. The effect is as follows. You give two spectators each a packet of four cards and you have a similar packet. Each packet contains two black cards and two red cards. The idea is simple - you place one card face down on the table, and both spectators place one of their cards on top. The idea is get three cards all of the same color. The only problem is that neither of you are allowed to look at the faces of your cards. However, a 100-percent color match is guaranteed....

This book has nothing to do with the "21 Card Trick". However it features twenty-one of the best card tricks Peter Duffie has to offer. Three other individuals significantly contributed to this book. They are Roy Walton, Gene Maze and Marty Kane. It can get hardly any better when it comes to cards.

1st edition, 2000

BETWEEN THE ACES: Very slowly you deal cards onto the table and a spectator stops you anywhere. He notes the card stopped at - it is placed on top of the deck and the dealt cards dropped on top with absolutely no moves. Despite the fairness of the procedure, the selected card is now...

This is the latest in a long line of excellent ebooks of Peter Duffie. It features many photos for a much clearer description of the sixteen routines. Beside his excellent ideas I just love his play with words in his trick titles. For example "Cannibalector" or "Witch Way?"

1st edition, 2001.

BLACK SHEEP: Two spectators each select cards from a packet, then you select one, but you leave your selection face up as proof of your actions. You spread the packet and remove your card along with the two cards on ether side. These prove to be the other two selections. As an afterthought, you point...

This is the latest release from the prolific Peter Duffie. Card magic that is easy to do and very effective.

1st edition, 2005

CRYSTAL CLEAR TRANSPO: The classic transposition between two cards placed on the top and bottom of a glass. No duplicate cards are used.

A ROYAL ENIGMA: Based on "The Vernon Card Puzzle" in Early Vernon (1962). It was inspired by Peter Kane's "Royal Families" in A Further Card Session (1975) and by Roy Walton's "Split Up" in The Complete Walton Vol. 2 (1986).

MORE ROYAL ENIGMATICS: Can be used as a Follow-up routine to the previous effect, or a stand-alone trick....

Peter Duffie is a master in taking a published effect, refining it, combining it with new and other old ideas and/or reducing its necessary technical difficulty. Several of the 12 effects in this ebook are improved variations on existing themes. This also shows that Peter knows the literature of card magic well and consistently credits what has come befor him.

1st edition, 1992.

THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS: A different approach to the Vernon Triumph effect which originally appeared in Stars of Magic.

CARTER'S FOOLER: This is included as a tribute to Arthur Carter who died recently. The...

Peter Duffie is an extremely clever and skilled card man from the UK, a scotsman to be precise. In this ebook he will teach you 13 easy to do card effects with a normal deck of cards. Enjoy!

1st edition, 2000.

ACECRAFT: Two selections - four Aces - and an unexpected outcome. All in a day's work.

SUDDEN IMPACT: The audience believe you are going to cut to the Aces - they get a bigger surprise when you don't!

POPULACE: This very easy way of doing Roy Walton's Collectors has been my working repertoire for a while.

IMPOSSIBLE OPENER: Two spectators select cards in the fairest of manners. Your back...

Twenty-one original and impressive card effects plus eleven new, practical, useful, simple sleights by these two masters of the art of card magic.

Paul Fleming wrote:

A collection of feats of conjuring with cards, employing artificed cards and simple accessories. Embracing over 30 brilliant feats of card conjuring made possible by the use of prepared cards and simple accessories together with a complete exposition of Jean Hugard's superbly routined presentation of the famed card classic, The Aerial Cards.

Paul Fleming wrote:

A treatise on the science and art of the stock, cull, odd-number, and cull-stock shuffles. Presenting the Braue system, bringing these useful stratagems within the reach of every performer, together with a full description of a number of brilliant card feats made possible by this amazingly simple system.

Paul Fleming wrote:

The Stripper Deck has nothing to do with a girl shedding off her clothes, but rather is a specially gaffed deck. However, the gaff or preparation is not noticeable with the naked eye. It can even be handed out to spectators for shuffling and cutting. This manuscript outlines various moves as well as tricks with the Stripper Deck. Practically all effects can be achieved with pure sleight of hand using an unprepared deck. But the Stripper Deck simplifies the handling and makes miracles possible without difficult moves, leaving you time to focus on the presentation.

Paul Fleming wrote:

It is supposedly the first book devoted to a single sleight - beautifully layed out with photos as well as drawings off all stages of the invisible pass. A detailed and thorough explanation of this form of the pass. The pass is a difficult move. Many books barely scratch the surface when they try to teach a shift or pass. This book is entirely devoted to a single move and leaves no open questions.

In a letter to Paul Fleming Nov 5th 1944 Fred Braue talks about his "invisible pass" for the first time: "...I mentioned earlier a special interest in the "pass". Jean and I are doing another little...

New Era Card Tricks is the masterpiece of Roterberg's publishing efforts. Scholars are pretty sure that the elusive Erdnase must have known and read this book. It is still today an extremely good and important work on cards. It is a book any serious card man should read. This is to a large part the foundation on which a lot of the later card work has been built. A good part of this book is essentially a translation of the German work Der Moderne Kartenkünstler by Friedrich W. Conradi. Richard Hatch wrote a wonderful introduction that by itself is worth reading. He starts:

Here is a historical ad from the Charles T. Powner Co. in Chicago: "This book gives, with careful and easy instructions, the newest card tricks and sleight-of-hand yet offered to professionals and amateurs. Not only does this book contain all of the new tricks, but nearly every one known is fully explained and exposed by explicit directions and carefully prepared illustrations. 160 pages, 80 fine illustrations. Price Postpaid $0.50"

I cannot offer this book at $0.50 as originally sold in 1902, but our prices are almost as good as 100 years ago prices. This book is the small version of Roterberg's famous...

Thurston explains fundamental sleights such as the Pass, Palm, Force, Change, Back-Palm and his system of expert card manipulation, which appeared for the first time in this book. It also describes a unique gimmick to make the Back-Palm almost effortless.

Thurston also lays claim to what we today call the Si Stebbins stack. He writes that it is his invention but he also thanks Si for his contributions and help.

1st edition, 1903, Henry J. Wehman; 83 pages.

1. CHAPTER I. A Few Incidents in the Life of Howard Thurston, Premier Card Manipulator of the World
10. CHAPTER II. Indispensable Sleights
19. CHAPTER...

Mike gave this lecture already twice in the US with great success. He is one of the gambling and cheating-at-gambling authorities in Germany. I liked particularly his 10 card poker deal for the stage, an entertaining piece of card magic for a large audience.

1st edition, 1999, Mike Porstmann, München

1. Welcome To The Golden Nugget
2. The Great Joker Game
3. New York Credit Card
4. Jokers Always Win
5. 10 Card Poker Deal
6. Derby Days
7. Switchgame

Elliott was a very popular magician. Particularly some of his card effects were considered best of its kind. Nobody knew the secrets to some of Elliott's tricks. People waited impatiently for the release of this book. But it was met with some disappointment that not all of Elliott's tricks were described. We do not know which tricks these critics mean. The reason might well be that Elliott died before he could finish his book. Burgess and Houdini had to collect Elliott's notes and fill in some of the missing explanations. However, Elliott and Houdini believed that all the material in this book was...

Arthur Buckley, one of the great sleight-of-hand artists with cards and coins, has written a series of twelve problems. This booklet is number one. It is illustrated by Harlan Tarbell and edited by Gus Moford. Dariel Fitzkee later reprinted these twelve problems in The Card Expert Entertains but used different inferior illustrations. If you have ever heard something about the 'Buckley card problems' this is one of them.

1st edition, August 1921, Magic Products Company, Chicago; 10 pages.

Number One - A Triple Climax

3. Effect, Brief Presentation and Patter.
4. Sleights Necessary to Performing the Triple Climax.
4. The...

This is not a book for beginners. But it is a book that will lift up the devoted student by two or three levels of proviciency in card handling. Buckley, born in Australia, was one of the masters and innovators of card magic. He studied the card gamblers as well as the top magic performers. This book with over 300 photos, of which most have been enhanced by drawing lines over them to increase contrast, and 40 outstanding routines, is a gold mine and challenge for any card worker.

Paul Fleming wrote:

Florian Laplantif developed a card spelling system for all 53 cards (Joker included). If you like spelling tricks, check this one out.

Thirty Card Mysteries is the most important work Charles T. Jordan published. Several card moves and ideas are credited to Charles T. Jordan. The most well known one is the Jordan Count. In this book he details moves like a single card reverse or half pack reverse. He describes spelling tricks and the effect Coluria is probably the first magical use of a bracelet code (much more on this binary code can be found in Leo Boudreau’s work).

1st edition, 1919, California; 48 pages.

1. Preface
2. Introduction
3. Trailing the Dovetail Shuffle to its Lair.
6. 1. Close-Range Mind Reading
7. 2. Long-Distance Mind Reading ...