Lybrary.com: ebooks and download videos
Home / Magic & Mentalism / Cards

Popular Card Tricks
by Walter Gibson

$8

(1 review, 3 customer ratings) ★★★★

PDF | by download [4.99 MByte]  
Popular Card Tricks by Walter Gibson

Walter Gibson intended this book for the novice. All the tricks are quite easy to perform. And in the beginning under the heading "The Presentation of Card Tricks" Gibson gives very valuable advice on how to create a program and how to present it.

Nevertheless, the book is so good that even the intermediate and advanced card magician will be able to learn a lot from its pages.

This book was originally written by Walter B. Gibson for Houdini. Houdini's death in 1926 prevented him from putting it out, and Walter issued it under his own name. Ted Annemann considered it one of the best books in its field . . . it had done much to rouse his youthful enthusiasm for card tricks. He had intended to use it as a Jinx Special (he actually allowed pages 831 to 878 for it in the Jinx, and was pasting it up when death intervened. Later Lloyd Jones had reissued it, with a new introduction by Walter, on slick book stock with the illustrations just as it was originally. The cover is the same, but on heavy art paper in three colors. 48 pages, size 8 1/2 x 11 - easy to do card tricks again available; now you can fill that gap in your Jinx file.

  • Preface
  • Table Of Contents
  • The Presentation Of Card Tricks
    • Know What You Are Doing
    • Lead Up To Mystery
    • Progress Rapidly From Trick To Trick
    • Patter
    • Do Not Fear Exposure
  • Chapter 1: Self Working Card Tricks
    • The Mystic Prediction
    • The Heap Of Three
    • Two Groups Of Cards
    • The Transposed Cards
    • Two Chosen Numbers
    • The Mysterious Queen
    • Jacks And Jokers
    • The Psychic
    • The Assembly
    • The Royal Flushes
    • Eleven Cards
    • The Heap Dealing Mystery
    • The Twenty-One Cards
    • The Same Number
    • The Three Heap Trick
    • The Twenty-Five Card Trick
    • The Ten Card Circle
  • Chapter 2: Methods For Locating And Appearing Cards
    • Method One A Single Card Location
    • Method Two The “Pointer” Cards
    • Method Three Single Ends
    • Method Four The Three Heaps
    • Method Five Card Counting
    • Method Six The Double Deal
    • The Card From The Hat
    • Cutting The Pack
    • The Card On The Hand
    • The Reversed Card
    • A Surprising Finish
    • Cards In The Hat
    • A Spelling Trick
    • The Turnup Card
    • The Name From The Ashes
    • The Card From The Pocket
    • Seven And Eight
    • A Striking Discovery
    • The Card On The Chair
  • Chapter 3: Mysterious Card Tricks Performed With The Aid Of Special Systems
    • The Twenty Card Trick
    • The Thirty-Six Card Trick
    • Three Heaps And Three Cards
    • Thought Anticipated
    • Pocket To Pocket
    • A Mental Choice
    • The Card In The Pocket
    • The Cards In The Case
    • The Three Heaps
    • Predicting Cards
    • The Master Clock Trick
    • The Ten Card Trick
    • Kings And Queens
    • The Card Marvel
    • An Improved Mental Mystery
  • Chapter 4: Tricks Requiring Prearrangement
    • Section One The Prearranged Deck
    • Telling The Top Cards
    • From Heap To Heap
    • The Card In The Envelope
    • Discovering A Selected Card
    • Odd Or Even
    • Detecting Chosen Cards
    • Cards In The Handkerchief
    • Cards In The Pocket
    • To Name The Card At Any Position
    • To Tell The Position Of Any Card
    • Naming Cards In Order
    • The Bridge Trick
    • Section 2 Other Tricks Requiring Prearrangment
    • The New Pack Of Cards
    • The Automatic Deal
    • A Marvelous Prediction
    • Another Bridge Trick
    • Spelling The Cards
    • Aces And Kings
    • The Mysterious Rows
    • The Invisable Passage
  • Chapter 5: Miscellaneous Card Mysteries
    • The Ace In The Pocket
    • The Turnabout Cards
    • The Devining Card
    • The Glass On The Card
    • The Escaping Card
    • The Balancing Card
    • The Three Jack Deal
    • The Automatic Rising Card
    • The Four Card Trick
    • The Self Cutting Pack
    • Cards In The Hat
    • The Cherry Colored Card
    • The Mental Divination
    • The Thirteen Card Deal
    • The Little Duke Trick
    • The Color Changing Pack
    • The Automatic Deal
    • The Adhesive Cards
  • Concluding Remarks
1st edition 1926; PDF 106 pages.
word count: 34577 which is equivalent to 138 standard pages of text


Reviewed by Christopher Reynolds (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Tuesday 13 September, 2022

Many magicians still follow the unwritten, antiquated rule that says there are three ways to learn card magic: practice, more practice, and still more practice.

But, with so much time spent alone practicing, learning intricate sleights, and complex routines, the results can end up disappointing. Constant practice not balanced with live performance in front of an audience can produce magicians skillful at everything except entertaining people.

Walter B. Gibson, considered one of the greatest authorities in the history of magic, created a new rule: the best way to learn magic is to begin by doing it.

Even with years of practice and the best instruction, skill can be challenging to duplicate. Popular Card Tricks is the perfect book for amateur magicians who want to learn (and start performing) well-known card tricks that deceive the eye and mind while further developing their expertise without years of tedious practice.

Here, he reveals the secret methods behind 90 easy-to-learn effects. The emphasis is on subtle deception rather than elaborate sleight-of-hand, assuring success within hours for anyone looking to become a magician.

By carefully following the simple instructions, you'll develop a well-rounded repertoire of astonishing effects on which you can draw for a lifetime of enjoyment.

"To explain how magic is done is one thing," said Walter Gibson, "but to tell how to do it is quite another."

The card tricks comprising this book are self-working and quickly learned, yet still baffling to spectators because of the unsuspecting principles on which they depend. And it's not just beginners who will benefit from this book, but intermediate and advanced magicians, finding new tricks and simplified ways of performing the classics.

Chapter one presents a series of clever card tricks relying on self-working methods. Combined with proper presentation, these simple effects are some of the most baffling in card magic.

Chapter two deals with "Pick a card, any card" type tricks, explaining techniques for finding and revealing cards chosen by spectators.

Chapter three, Mysterious Card Tricks Performed With The Aid Of Special Systems, teaches you little-known mathematical principles used by magicians around the world.

Chapter four deals with one of the oldest principles in magic, the prearranged packs of cards, arranging an entire deck according to a secret method that looks accidental but allows the performer to calculate the exact position of each card.

In chapter five, you'll learn several unique, unclassifiable tricks performed with odd cards, additional packs, and unusual conditions that separate these effects from the typical run of card tricks.

The author drew upon a lifetime spent in professional magic for his expertise. Not only was Gibson well-known as one of the best writers on the subject of magic, but he was also a personal friend and confidant of some of the most outstanding past performers like Thurston and Blackstone.

The book was initially ghost-written for Harry Houdini, which Gibson compiled using Houdini's handwritten notes. The two men were working on a three-volume set on intermediate magic when the escape artist died in 1926. In 1928 the book was released under Gibson's name.

Have you ever been astonished by the flawless performance of a card trick and wanted to learn how they did it? Have you ever dreamed of mystifying audiences with a deck of cards? If so, this eBook reproduction of the underrated 1920s classic is for you.