When I compiled volume 3 of these "Scrapbooks" I had mentioned it would be the last, unless I found some of my material in Abra and other periodicals I had no access to, along with a few of my earlier contributions and creations. Just two days after the publication of Volume 3, I received an email from Andy Martin, complete with all the Abra articles, and in subsequent emails a couple of my Magick contributions, and all the date and issue references.
I had forgotten since my Swami/Mantra days just how helpful a fellow "magic addict" can be in helping a complete stranger since I had no correspondence or contact with Andy prior to this. I had visited his website martinsmagic.com, but had no idea of the depth and scope of his history project, chronicling thousands of quality magic items, magazines, catalogs and data, with photos, videos and reference links to drool over, with a thoroughness never seen before.
When I got out of college in 1968, magic was for me a hobby, and a source of income to pay some of the bills. I was unaware of most magic shops and dealers, and magic magazines. As a performer, (in addition to a routine desk job) I used to perform in a Cabaret at Trincas (one of the "in" spots for the younger crowd then) besides the usual gamut of party and birthday shows. I created a sizable volume of the material I used and made many of the props myself. The additional income permitted me to indulge in magic magazine subscriptions, and these sparked additional ideas, many of which were then contributed to these magazines to "extend the subscriptions" and keep the involvement flourishing.
Looking back I find some of my best notions were in those magazine articles, hence this effort to collate them in this series of books. These "Scrapbooks" are an effort to collate these "ideas" for magicians who, like me, never cease to experiment and improvise. Much of the material (including my Swami/Mantra magazines and a few dozen booklets) have been published as eBooks by Lybrary.com, and these Scrapbooks are comprised of "ideas and concepts" excluding those.
Reading through some of this material has been an enlightening experience. I often look at something and wonder - did I really discover/envision/write that? Some of it is juvenile - the exuberance of a novice in his early twenties gushing over every bit of trivia, and some quite intriguing - like the subtle New Number Force (in this volume) - hidden in one para of seven paras of "padding" to fill a magazine article, that would have made for an excellent commercial item, had I discovered it a few years later.
Or the Delna Device, which would still be a best-seller and a classic Switch Wallet, if the craftsman who made them for me had not passed away, and a replacement to make this at a commercially viable cost impossible to find!
With the proliferation of magic innovations on the market, and their easy access through YouTube videos, some of the material may seem outdated and mediocre, but to paraphrase an old chestnut "if you got one usable idea from these books you will have recovered your investment". I can only hope you find more than one!
- Introduction
- Phantom Reflections
- Uppers And Downers
- Improved Clock Dial Penetration
- The Sahara Casket
- No Choice Stand
- Delna Device
- Toothpaste Trickery
- Blooming Magic
- Bulls Eye (Version 2)
- New Number Force
- Sympathy Revised
- I Predict
- Turn It 'Round
- The Easiest Memory Miracle
- Nu-dissolving Coin
- Spectator Predicts
- That's The Word
- A Pocket Full of Entertainment
- Arabian Auction
- Joker Brand
- Crazy Crickett
- Balloney
- Cavity Concert
- Cards At Last!
- Ready - Set - Go
- Rainbow Riot
- The Chowpatty C & R Rope
- Passe Passe Cords
- Passe Passe Coin
- Educated Goldfish
- Thoughtoroid Camera
- Hot Spirit Writing
- Pocket Bathing Beauty
- Bagshawe's Genii
- Force Shopping Bag
- Xerognum 007
1st edition 2023, PDF 82 pages.
word count: 42316 which is equivalent to 169 standard pages of text
