For years the pattern has been the same. A newcomer to magic invariably turns first to cards as a vehicle for mystification. He spends hours upon hours mastering difficult sleights and then, to his dismay, learns of the existence of easier and more effective maneuvers hidden away in magical literature - moves about which he could have no knowledge, but which would have made his previous struggles unnecessary, or, at least, eased them.
Gradually he discards the results of many arduous hours of practice and substitutes the newly discovered and simplified versions until, after a score of years, he possesses a series of comparatively easy sleights that enable him to accomplish without difficulty the feats that caused him so much sweat and tears earlier.
In 1948, I decided to do something about this situation and wrote the first version of Sleight Intended, which was published in the October issue of The Linking Ring.
In 1956, it was revised and included in the text of Top Secrets Of Magic, Volume 1.
Another revision, prepared about 1970, has become a part of Miracle Makers.