$5(4 customer ratings) ★★★★★
This is one of the earliest publications which has Burling Hull's Svengali deck described. Hull called it originally the "Cards Mysterious". Even in this early publication he complains about unauthorized copies being sold by unscrupulous dealers. A hundred years later and nothing has changed. We still have magic retailers and manufacturers producing and selling illegal and unauthorized copies of magic products.
One thing has changed though over the last 100 years - the use of Bicycle cards. Hull writes:
One of the objections to the trick is that the design of the backs are that of Bicycle Cards which are rarely used by the amateur and never used by the professional as they are not suited to magical manipulation.
Burling Hull describes several other effects with gimmicked cards and gimmicked envelopes. One uses a card with a reflecting back which today could easily be realized with a piece of mylar stuck to a card. I also found his way of handling wax quite interesting.
- To The Fraternity
- Introductory
- The Goblin Aces
- Warrings Card Principle
- Satan's Secret
- Novel Card Discovery
- The Monte Cristo Cards
- Substitute For Pass
- Houdin's Dream Improved
- - Burling-Hull Method
- The Thayer Card Rising Tray
- New Changing Spot Cards
- The Photo Sprite
- The Sealed Letter Test
- - Extracts "Behind The Scenes"
- - Explanation Of The Effect Described
- - The Burling Hull Improved Letter Test
- - Additional Hints
- The Fourteen Inventions In Self Forcing Methods
- The Improved "Cards Mysterious"
- - The Hoax Of 1909
- The Devil's Pass And Improvements
- "Electra" (The Trance Cards)
- The Fly Away Card Trick
- Announcement
1st edition 1911; original 32 pages; PDF 36 pages.
word count: 14823 which is equivalent to 59 standard pages of text