This 19th-century book is a treasure trove of incredible magic tricks.
Magician Paul Gertner is famous for his cups and balls routine using metal balls. I don't know if the idea occurred to him on his own ... but this very same idea that seems so modern was already written over 100 years prior in this book from 1874! I'm talking of Jean Nicolas Ponsin's monumental work, Nouvelle Magie Blanche Dévoilée translated into English in its entirety. And I assure you that within its pages you will find many other excellent magic effects to enrich your repertoire in the 21st century!
The complete work, finally, at a bargain price!
For decades, English-speaking magicians have only had access to a partial translation of this critical text by Sam Sharpe and even though large parts of it were translated and used by Professor Hoffmann in Modern Magic, Ponsin's book is so extensive that a lot of it has never been translated into English.
The good news is that now you can have the complete book in English including the supplement which was later added by the author and which contains many wonderful and timeless tricks that you can add to your modern repertoire.
Discover the missing techniques, profound secrets, and full professional repertoire previously lost to the English-speaking world described in a 275 pages eBook. This is a huge book!
You would expect this book to cost a lot of money ... but this marvelous work can be yours for only 15 dollars! This is a value you simply cannot afford to miss.
TIMELESS POWER FOR THE MODERN PERFORMER
Now you can own and experience the complete text of this wonderful, newly translated book and you'll be surprised by its wonderful contents. This book is an authentic and detailed window into the world of professional magic as practiced in France during the first half of the 19th century. But don't you think for one minute that its contents are passé. While rooted in history, the vast number of tricks and principles within this volume have not lost their charm or their power to astound 21st-century audiences.
So what are you waiting for? Invest the ridiculous sum of 15 dollars and immediately get your hands on this long lost treasure of magic.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- PROLOGUE
- INTRODUCTION
- ANCIENT AND MODERN SORCERY EXPLAINED
- GENERAL PRINCIPLES
- Part ONE: Card Tricks
- CHAPTER ONE: Principles and Means Indispensable for the Performance of a Great Part of Card Tricks
- SECTION I: Different Ways of Making the Pass - The Pass with Both Hands
- SECTION II: Making the Pass with One Hand
- SECTION III: Second Way of Making the Pass with One Hand
- SECTION IV: Third Method of Making the Pass with One Hand
- SECTION V: Changing the Card. First Method
- SECTION VI: Changing the Card. Second Method
- SECTION VII: Changing the Card with One Hand
- SECTION VIII: False Shuffles. First Method
- SECTION IX: Second Method of Doing the False Shuffle
- SECTION X: To Palm a Card. First Method
- SECTION XI: Second Method of Palming a Card.
- SECTION XII: To Replace the Card.
- SECTION XIII: To Force a Card to be Taken.
- SECTION XIV: To Know the Card.
- SECTION XV: To Pull Down the Card (The Glide).
- SECTION XVI: To Reverse the Deck.
- SECTION XVII: To Cover the Card.
- SECTION XVIII: To Glimpse the Card.
- CHAPTER II: Explanation of the Tricks.
- ARTICLE I: Of Parlor Tricks.
- SECTION I: To hand the deck to a person so that they think of a card and to hand them this card without asking them any questions. - Various ways of performing this trick.
- SECTION II: Having formed four piles on the table, whose cards have been shuffled; after having given some instructions to the person in charge of arranging the piles, to guess the total number of points on the bottom cards of each pile, without being present during the formation of said piles, without the aid of calculation, and without asking any questions.
- SECTION III: To teach a trick to several people, who immediately manage to do it very well, then to prevent them from performing it or to allow them to do it at will, even when one is away from them.
- SECTION IV: To guess instantly how many cards there are in a packet taken at random from the deck.
- SECTION V: To invite as many people as are present to think of several cards from a deck that you will count onto the table from the first to the last, and after having cut and shuffled the deck, to give each one the card they thought of.
- SECTION VI: After shuffling the deck and dividing it into two packets, to remove a certain number of cards from each of them, and to guess the one on top of one of the packets.
- SECTION VII: Having had the cards shuffled and the deck divided into three packets; simulating a calculation and making certain transpositions of cards in the packets, to guess the ones on top of each pile.
- SECTION VIII: To distinguish all the court cards of the deck by touch.
- SECTION IX: Having shuffled the deck, to guess the cards by touch.
- SECTION X: After having had a card drawn and mixed into the deck; to place twelve on the table and then, after having had these cards designated separately, to remove eleven and make the twelfth that remains be precisely the one that was drawn.
- SECTION XI: To Make a Card Change Places.
- SECTION XII: To Have a Card Drawn, Shuffled into the Deck, and Delivered at the Requested Number.
- SECTION XIII: After Having Had a Card Drawn and Shuffled into the Deck, to Throw the Deck at a Point Indicated at Will, and to Make the Card Be Found Nailed to That Point, and This Without Any Preparation.
- SECTION XIV: To Guess All the Cards of a New Deck, After Having Given It to the Spectators to Remove the Wrapper and Shuffle It.
- SECTION XV: The Four Inseparable Sevens.
- SECTION XVI: After having placed the four Aces separately on the table, and having covered each with three other cards, to give a person three of these four packets of their choice and to make the three Aces that they have in their possession appear in the packet that remains, in place of the cards that had been placed on the Ace.
- ARTICLE II: Card Tricks That Can Be Performed in the Parlor or in the Theater and Which Belong to Prestidigitation proper.
- SECTION I: To take a card, shuffle it into the deck, and throw the deck into the air, catching the card that was drawn from among all those that fall.
- SECTION II: To make a card that has been drawn and shuffled into the deck pass inside a hat.
- SECTION III: To have many cards drawn by different people and, after having placed them in the deck, to find them at the number they desire, one after the other.
- SECTION IV: The Inseparable Four Aces.
- SECTION V: The Multiplication of Cards in a Person's Hand.
- SECTION VI: Trick of Aces Vanished onto a Person's Hand Followed by Multiplication.
- SECTION VII: To place the four Aces under a hat and the four Kings on the deck held in the hand, to make the four Aces come onto the deck in place of the Kings and to find the latter under the hat where the Aces were; then to make the Aces appear under the hat and the Kings on the deck as they were before.
- SECTION VIII: To Have a Card Thought Of, and After Placing Three Different Cards on the Table, to Make the One Chosen from the Three Change into the Thought-of Card.
- SECTION IX: After Having Had a Card Thought Of, and After Forming Three Packets from the Deck, to Find This Card in the Packet They Designate.
- SECTION X: To Place Four Different Cards on the Table in View of the Spectators and to Make Them All Change into Cards of the Same Pip as One Taken at Random from Another Deck, and This Without Touching the Cards.
- SECTION XI: To cause a card, drawn at random and shuffled into the deck, to be found in one of several packets - seven or eight, for instance - made from the entire deck, and simultaneously to ensure it is found at a specific position within the chosen packet.
- SECTION XII: Four or five people each draw two cards; all are shuffled into the deck, and then they are made to appear, one after another, from the top and bottom.
- SECTION XIII: To make four cards change place in the deck suddenly, twice in succession.
- SECTION XIV: To instantly create the portrait of a young lady on a card drawn at random.
- SECTION XV: To propose a game of trump to a person and win it, whether you deal or they do.
- SECTION XVI: A game of "Piquet" in which you score pique and repique against your opponent, without a prepared deck, with the first one given to you, which will be shuffled after you have been blindfolded. Furthermore, you allow the adversary the ability to designate which fourteen cards are to be taken, and to lose or win at their choice.
- SECTION XVII: To have a person, who is quite far from you, think of a card, and to have a card drawn from the deck by another person be precisely the same one that was freely thought of.
- SECTION XVIII: To have a card freely drawn, hand the deck over for the card to be shuffled in, have the deck placed in a pocket, and then pull out the drawn and shuffled card.
- SECTION XIX: To announce in advance that a card which is about to be thought of is on top of the deck, and to produce it after having it named.
- SECTION XX: To show a card, place it on the table, and change it without touching it, having no other cards in hand.
- SECTION XXI: To have a card drawn and shuffled into a deck which is then placed in a circle on a table, in the center of which a small pedestal containing a clock hand is placed; to make the hand, when spun, stop precisely on the card that was drawn and shuffled.
- SECTION XXII: To immediately guess the cards freely drawn from a deck.
- SECTION XXIII: To spread a deck on the table face down; ask someone to chose one card and to make a card drawn from another deck be precisely the one that was freely chosen.
- SUPPLEMENT OF KNOWN TRICKS
- To make a thought-of card disappear from a deck and be found in any other place.
- To have different cards drawn and, after being shuffled into the deck, make one of them change successively into all the ones they drew.
- The Changing Cards (From Guyot)
- Of four cards that are freely drawn from the deck, to have one thought of and to divine it. (From Guyot)
- SECONDARY METHODS AND ADVICE
- On "Keys"
- On "Making the Bridge"
- On False Shuffles and the Pass as used by Cheaters
- On Bending Cards
- An Example of a Mystification Trick with Aces
- An Example of a Deceptive Game Proposition
- PART TWO: Of tricks performed with coins and the Cups and Balls.
- ARTICLE I: Of tricks performed with coins.
- PRELIMINARY PRINCIPLES
- Method of Palming a Coin.
- Another Method of Palming a Coin.
- Method of Palming Objects of Small Diameter.
- SECTION I: Multiplication of Coins in a Person's Hand.
- SECTION II: Another Multiplication of Coins in a Person's Hand.
- SECTION III: To Pass a Person's Finger Through a Twenty-Real Coin.
- SECTION IV: To Make a Twenty-Real Coin Pass Through a Table.
- SECTION V: Another Flying Coin Trick.
- SECTION VI: Third Flying Coin Trick.
- SECTION VII: To Make a Coin Pass from One Hand to the Other Many Times in Succession, with Arms Extended and Without Bringing Them Closer.
- SECTION VIII: To Change a Coin in Plain Sight of the Spectators Without Them Perceiving It.
- SECTION IX: Subtraction of Coins from a Person's Hands. To Make Invisibly Exit the Desired Quantity and Find the Subtracted Quantity in the Hands of Another Person.
- SECTION X: To Make Coins Placed in a Small Bag Pass into a Person's Sleeve.
- SECTION XI: A Fine Trick of Flying Coins in Handkerchiefs.
- SECTION XII: Another Fine Trick of a Flying Coin in a Handkerchief.
- SECTION XIII: Third Method of Performing the Coin Multiplication Trick.
- ARTICLE II: OF THE TRICK CALLED THE CUPS AND BALLS
- INTRODUCTION
- SECTION I: Method of Palming the Small Ball.
- SECTION II: Notes on the Principles Described by Ozanam.
- SECTION III: Second Method of Pretending to Place the Small Ball Under the cup.
- SECTION IV: On Some Passes Not Published Until Now.
- SECTION V: To Ostensibly Place a Small Ball Under Each Cup, and Make These Three Balls Disappear at the Same Time.
- SECTION VI: To place the small balls one after another on a cup, cover it with a second cup, and make the ball that was on top pass underneath each time, without any apparent cause.
- SECTION VII: To make the three small balls pass under the table and into a cup held with its opening facing up.
- SECTION VIII: On the Multiplication of the Small Balls.
- SECTION IX: Pass with the Medium Balls.
- SECTION X: Pass with the Large Balls.
- SECTION XI: Continuation of the Previous Pass.
- SECTION XII: Pass Executed with False Passes.
- SECTION XIII: Another Pass with a False Pass.
- SECTION XIV: False Pass in the Pass Called "The Post."
- ARTICLE III: OF THE CUPS AND BALLS WITH COPPER BALLS INSTEAD OF CORK BALLS
- SECTION I: Of the Balls Used in This Trick and the Method of Palming Them.
- SECTION II: To Make Three Balls Pass Invisibly One After Another Under a cup.
- SECTION III: To Remove the Three Balls Without Lifting the Cups and Place Them in the Pocket.
- SECTION IV: Another Way to Conclude This Pass by Having the Balls Found in a Person's Pocket.
- SECTION V: Another, More Surprising Way to Conclude the Previous Pass.
- SECTION VI: Another, Quicker Way to Execute This Last Pass.
- THIRD PART: VARIOUS TRICKS
- CHAPTER I: PARLOR OR SOCIAL TRICKS
- SECTION I: Mathematical Trick with Two Dice.
- SECTION II: To Palm a Knife or Any Other Object While Sitting at a Table, Pretending to Swallow It.
- SECTION III: To Make a Liquor Come Out from the Tip of a Knife.
- SECTION IV: Trick with Bells (Sleigh Bells).
- SECTION V: To Tie a Body Securely, and Make the Ropes with Which It Is Tied Come Undone as if by Magic.
- SECTION VI: Writing in Tobacco.
- SECTION VII: To Make Oneself Invisible to a Large Gathering by Appearing Before It with an Uncovered Face and Holding a Candle Holder.
- SECTION VIII: Marvelous Appearance of Three Stigmata on the Hand.
- SECTION IX: Singular Way of Playing Dominoes.
- SECTION X: A New Way of Magnetizing That Awakens Instead of Putting to Sleep.
- CHAPTER II: DRAWING-ROOM TRICKS SUITABLE FOR PERFORMANCE IN A GIVEN SESSION BEFORE A NUMEROUS GATHERING
- SECTION I: The Skittle Trick.
- SECTION II: The Little Box in the Handkerchief.
- SECTION III: To Attract Various Objects Thrown on the Table Without Apparent Reason.
- SECTION IV: The Perfected Rosary Trick.
- SECTION V: Pretty Coin Trick.
- SECTION VI: Trick of the large rings shown separately, which link together in front of the spectators.
- SECTION VII: The Dance of the Figures.
- SECTION VIII: A Very Gallant, Conceited, and Coquettish Trick.
- SECTION IX: The Magic Ball.
- SECTION X: Metamorphosis.
- SECTION XI: The Sugar and Coffee Beans.
- SECTION XII: Changing Balls.
- SECTION XIII: The Pyramids.
- SECTION XIV: The Feather Duster Trick.
- SECTION XV: Multiplication of Flags
- SECTION XVI: Singular Transposition
- SECTION XVII: The Large Die Trick
- SECTION XVIII: A Clever Watch Trick
- SECTION XIX: The Jumping Feather
- SECTION XX: An Ingenious Method for Vanishing a Ring into an Egg
- SECTION XXI: Description of Some Instruments for Recreational Science
- Number One: The Cup Called the Box Cup
- Number Two: Description of a Cover Which Forms Part of the Apparatus for a Coin Trick
- Number Three: The Box Called the Double-Drawer Bonbon Box
- Number Four: The Burnt Handkerchief Cup
- Number Five: The Card and Bird Box
- SECTION XXII: To make a handkerchief placed in a box pass into an empty cup, and to make the same handkerchief return to the box
- SECTION XXIII: To make two twenty-real coins, enclosed in a round box, which is itself enclosed in a cup, pass through a ribbon into a glass cup
- SECTION XXIV: To make a bird placed in a cup disappear invisibly, only to be found in a box held by a young lady, instead of a card that was in the said box, which card is found in a box where there was nothing
- SECTION XXV: Another Use for the Bird Box
- SECTION XXVI: Spontaneous Birth of a Flower
- SECTION XXVII: Travels of a Handkerchief to Different Locations
- SECTION XXVIII: Isolated Journey of a Twenty-Real Coin on the Blade of a Saber - Includes a description of the "Dancing Egg on a Stick" trick as a precursor, explaining the use of a hidden thread.
- SECTION XXIX: The Broken and Restored Watch
- SECTION XXX: Sudden Transposition of Various Objects to Different Places
- CHAPTER III : THEATER TRICKS OR WHITE MAGIC
- SECTION I: On the Various Tables Used in the Theater
- Comus-style Table
- Chest Table
- Simple Table
- Table with Trapdoors
- Spring-loaded Tables
- Pre-made Trapdoors
- Bellows Table
- Spike Table
- SECTION II: Preparation of the Bottles in Which Birds, Rabbits, or Other Objects Like Handkerchiefs, Watches, etc., Are Made to Appear
- SECTION III: The Plate Broken and Restored by a Pistol Shot
- SECTION IV: The Bottle That Supplies All Requested Liquors
- SECTION V: To Make a Ring Pass Inside a Nut Placed in a Glove, Which Glove is Found Inside an Egg, the Egg in a Lemon, and the Lemon in an Orange
- SECTION VI: The Card Printed on a Handkerchief by a Pistol Shot
- SECTION VII: The Fishbowls, or Sudden Appearance of Several Fishbowls Full of Water and Fish
- SECTION VIII: Another Way to Perform the Fishbowl Trick
- SECTION IX: Magical Transformation and Transposition of Various Objects
- SECTION X: Another Way to Perform the Previous Trick
- SECTION XI: The Magic Rabbit
- SECTION XII: The Dead and Resurrected Bird
- SECTION XIII: The Enchanted Ring Case, by the Magical Art of a Watchmaker - The Bird That Emerges Alive from an Egg, Within Which a Ring Was Believed to Be Hidden
- SECTION XIV: The Torment of Tantalus
- SECTION XV: The Target and the Watch
- SECTION XVI: The Dance of the Figures - For the Theater
- SECTION XVII: The Vanishing Lady
- SECTION XVIII: In Which It Will Be Seen That, to Mend a Handkerchief Torn to Pieces, It Is Enough to Burn It
- SECTION XIX: Filching of many keys which invisibly exit from a closed cup to be found inside
a loaf of bread.
- SECTION XX: The Pin Shot.
- SECTION XXI: The Triumphant Column
- SECTION XXII: Making Colored Ribbons Emerge from a Bottle Filled with Wine
- SECTION XXIII: The Magic Lemon Tree
- SECTION XXIV: Incredible Trick - Complaisant Bullet - Discharge for Laughs
- SECTION XXV: The Infinite Box - The Hat Transformed into the Horn of Plenty
- SECTION XXVI: The Perfect Wallet
- SECTION XXVII: The Conversation of a Coin with Those Who Deign to Question It - A Metaphysical Parody - An Extravagant Digression Which I Advise You to Skip
- SECTION XXVIII: Method of Reconstructing a Torn Dress
- SECTION XXIX: The "Houlette" Trick - The Dancing Card
- SECTION XXX: The Suspension
- SECTION XXXI: The Devil's Cauldron
- SECTION XXXII: Coffee Service at a Moment's Notice
- SUPPLEMENT
- SECTION I: To Extract Several Boxes Left on the Table, Then Request Several Rings and Cause Them to Pass into the Boxes
- SECTION II: Method of Performing the Trick Described in Magic Explained: Section III, Chapter II - Using the Entire Deck
- SECTION III: A Lovely Coin Trick
- SECTION IV: The Tightrope Walker Card
- SECTION V: Predicting in Advance Which of Two Piles - of Cards or Coins - Will Be Chosen
- SECTION VI: Forcing a Voluntarily Selected Card, Shuffling It into the Deck, Dividing the Deck into Small Piles on the Table, and Making the Chosen Card Appear as the Top Card of the Pile Formed the Instant the Word "Stop" Is Uttered
- SECTION VII: Method of Performing the "Pass" and Imperceptibly Changing a Card
- SECTION VIII: A Lovely Dice Trick
- SECTION IX: Method of Causing a Ring, Folded Paper, or Any Small Object to Pass Instantly into the Innermost of Many Folded, Sealed, and Nested Letters
- SECTION X: A Trick in the Project Stage
- SECTION XI: On the Undines or Water Spirits, Commonly Called Ludions
- SECTION XII: Explanation of the Famous Apple Pass in a Hat, Performed by Conus the Elder
- SECTION XIII: Holding a Box in Each Hand, Arms Extended - Placing a Marked Twenty-Real Coin in One Box and Making It Pass Alternately Between Them Without Bringing the Hands Closer
- SECTION XIV: The Umbrella Trick
- SECTION XV: The Forgotten Card Trick - Omitted from White Magic Unveiled
- SECTION XVI: Multiplication of Coins - A Perfection of the Trick
- SECTION XVII: A Special Method for the Ring-Passing-Through-a-Stick Trick
- SECTION XVIII: An Ingenious Method for the Cut Garter Trick
- SECTION XIX: A Lovely Trick with Sewing Thread
- SECTION XX: False Strength, Feigned Dexterity, Cunning Trick, Improvised Compass
- SECTION XXI: Various Tricks and Methods
1st French edition 1874, 1st complete English edition 2025, PDF 275 pages.
word count: 140022 which is equivalent to 560 standard pages of text
