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The Art of Modern Conjuring
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The Art of Modern Conjuring by unknown

Today we have the Masked Magician exposing magic secrets. Eighty years ago it probably was done by writing a book without the author's name given. I do not know if this book falls in the category 'exposure'. It certainly is a book that clearly reveals a lot of interesting tricks. One is the bullet catch. It has nearly 200 excellent photographs. Card and coin manipulation is dealt with in great detail. Overall a very good book. The photographs are the outstanding part.

A review in the March 1909 Sphinx states:

"The Art of Modern Conjuring" is an anonymously written work on "Drawing Room Entertainment," as the sub-title has it. In the 222 pages and 15 chapters will be found about all that the amateur will need to know about giving parlor magic shows. It is a beautifully illustrated book, there being 31 full-page photographic plates, each consisting of a group of individual photos of the tricks described in the text, making 190 engravings in all. This book is certainly the best illustrated of any that has recently come to my desk and sets an example that might well be followed by future books on magic, especially those that are particularly intended for amateurs in the art. The descriptions of the various tricks, etc., are clearly and concisely written in good, plain English language, so that anyone who can read can also understand. Chapters are devoted to the dress, pulls, servantes and apparatus. Card tricks, coin tricks, handkerchief tricks, tricks with chemicals, parlor tricks, hat tricks, mesmeric and magnetic tricks, advanced tricks, miscellaneous tricks, tricks with matches and numerals, shadowgraphy and second sight, and to make the book still more helpful to the amateur and beginner a series of three programs for a quarter of an hour's show, three for a half hour's entertainment and one for an entire evening's performance are given. These programs are well selected and judiciously arranged. Taken in all the book is a very good one and quite unique in its make up and presentation of the tricks illustrated and explained. Martinka & Co., 493 Sixth avenue, New York City, have it for sale. I do not know the price, but should judge it to be about $1.25 or $1.50, postpaid. Whatever the price, it will be a good investment for the novice as an introduction to the art, for the collector as an addition to his library, for the amateur and semi-amateur as a hint provider, and to the professional as a pleasing reminder of his early days and first steps in his chosen vocation.

Author was perhaps a certain Ralpho. (See The Magician Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, April 20, 1909, page 53.)

1st edition 1909 (England; later reprinted in the US around 1910); 222 pages.

  • CHAPTER I
    1. INTRODUCTORY HINTS
  • CHAPTER II
    1. THE DRESS, SERVANTES, PULLS AND APPARATUS
  • CHAPTER III
    1. CARD TRICKS
    2. Card case, the
    3. Card changing box, the
    4. Card jugglery
    5. Card spelling
    6. Dealing seconds or retaining the top card
    7. Diminishing cards, the
    8. Disappearing card, the
    9. Forcing cards by telepathy
    10. Inseparable jacks, the
    11. Magnetic aces, the
    12. Mysterious deal, the
    13. Pips vanished from a card and reproduced on a handkerchief, the
    14. Quickest pass on record, the
    15. Rising card from pack held in hand
    16. Rising card from pack in a glass
    17. Rubbing spots off a card
    18. Single-handed pass, the
    19. Three-card trick, or finding the queen, the
    20. To catch three cards from the pack
    21. To change a card that a person is holding
    22. To change a number of cards in two persons' pockets
    23. To fix a card selected from the pack on the ceiling or wall
    24. To force a card
    25. To make false shuffles
    26. To make three chosen cards rise from the pack
    27. To name a card in the centre of the pack
    28. To palm a card
    29. To palm a card (another method)
    30. To produce a card behind a candle
    31. To produce a chosen card from a pack wrapped in a handkerchief
    32. To produce three cards in a frame
    33. To read a pack of cards blindfolded
    34. To read a pack of cards from beginning to end without looking at them
    35. To reproduce a card that has been torn up
    36. To sight the top card
    37. To tell which card has been thought of
    38. To tell which of the court cards a person has chosen
    39. To vanish a card
    40. Travelling pips, the
    41. Two-handed pass, the
    42. Viaduct card illusion, the
  • CHAPTER IV
    1. COIN TRICKS
    2. Aerial treasury, the
    3. A coin for palming
    4. A coin pushed through a hat
    5. A coin vanished and found inside a nest of boxes
    6. Coin collecting wand, the
    7. Coin railway, the
    8. Diminishing coins, the
    9. Disappearing penny, the
    10. Five coins changed to a pea
    11. Magical production of a coin
    12. Multiplying coin, the
    13. Rattle box, the
    14. To balance a card and coin on the finger, and to remove the card without dislodging the coin
    15. To balance coins
    16. To catch a number of pennies laid upon the elbow
    17. To cause a coin to pass through a handkerchief in which a number of coins are enclosed
    18. To change a shilling into a sixpence
    19. To drop a coin in a bottle
    20. To hold a penny so that a strong man cannot take it from the fingers
    21. To make a coin float on water
    22. To make a shilling spin on the point of a needle
    23. To palm a sixpence
    24. To pass a coin
    25. To pass a coin (the tourniquet pass)
    26. To pass a coin from one handkerchief to another
    27. To pass a coin through a handkerchief without cutting it
    28. To pass a coin through a hat into a glass
    29. To produce a marked coin in a ball of worsted
    30. To retain a coin palmed
    31. To revolve a coin between two pins
    32. To rub a penny through a candle
    33. To vanish and produce a coin
    34. Vanishing coins on a plate
    35. Vanishing penny, the
  • CHAPTER V
    1. HANDKERCHIEF TRICKS
    2. Colour changing handkerchief, the
    3. Colour changing handkerchiefs in lamp glasses
    4. Dancing handkerchief, the
    5. Disappearing handkerchief, the
    6. Handkerchief, coin and ring trick
    7. Handkerchief produced from a match-box
    8. Handkerchief soaked in water, and produced quite dry
    9. Mysterious knot, the
    10. Production of eggs in a hat
    11. Production of a handkerchief from a soup plate
    12. Puzzling knot, the
    13. Spinning handkerchief, the
    14. To balance a handkerchief
    15. To break a knot
    16. To cut an apple in a handkerchief without injuring the latter
    17. To pass a flag into an apple
    18. To pass a ring on to a stick
    19. To produce a vanished handkerchief from the collar
    20. To remove a ring tied in a handkerchief
    21. To vanish a handkerchief from inside a lamp glass
    22. To vanish a handkerchief and to produce it from an empty soup plate
  • CHAPTER VI
    1. TRICKS WITH CHEMICALS
    2. Ale and water together in one glass without mixing
    3. Candle that cannot be blown out
    4. Fire bowl, the
    5. Magic glass, the
    6. Magic glasses of water, the
    7. Magic jug of water, the
    8. Oil upon water
    9. To add liquid to a glass full of water without causing it to overflow
    10. To blow smoke into a covered glass
    11. To change the complesion from white to black
    12. To give oneself a supernatural appearance
    13. To ignite flash paper without flame
    14. To illuminate water
    15. To make flash paper
    16. To obtain fire by applying water
    17. To set fire to a handkerchief without injuring it
    18. To smoke with two empty pipes
    19. To suspend a ring by a burnt thread
  • CHAPTER VII
    1. PARLOUR TRICKS
    2. Ascent of wine in an inverted glass of water
    3. Burning coal on a muslin handkerchief, a
    4. Dice trick, the
    5. Electrified pipe, the
    6. Glass of water suspended by a thread
    7. Glass of water that cannot be moved without spilling the whole
    8. Grape seed in the glass of champagne, the
    9. Juggler's dessert, the
    10. Magdeburg hemispheres, the
    11. Magical mirror, the
    12. Musical poker, the
    13. Mysterious paper bands, the
    14. Mysterious paper knife, the
    15. Novelty, a
    16. Obedient paper, the
    17. Piece of money rolling on an umbrella, a
    18. Remarkable stick breaking
    19. Rope pulled from behind tied wrists, a
    20. Silhouette portraits, the
    21. Stone breaker, the
    22. Telephonic string, the
    23. To balance a cigar on the tip of a finger
    24. To blow a cork into a bottle
    25. To blow out a candle behind a bottle
    26. To displace water by smoke
    27. To fill a glass of water with pins without spilling the water
    28. To hang a hat on the panel of a door
    29. To keep a penny revolving in a lamp shade
    30. To lift a bottle with a plate
    31. To lift a man with five fingers
    32. To make gas burn under a handkerchief
    33. To make a needle float
    34. To make a plank adhere to a table by means of a newspaper
    35. To pierce a halfpenny with a needle
    36. To poise a tumbler upon three sticks, each one of which has one end in the air
    37. To preserve snowballs
    38. To produce a flower in a buttonhole
    39. To produce any name called for on a visiting card
    40. To project one or two draughtsmen from a column
    41. To reverse the hands on a ruler held between the first finger and thumb of both hands
    42. To spin an egg as long as required
    43. To uncork a bottle without a corkscrew
    44. Travelling pea, the
    45. Two corks
    46. Water bottle and the three knives, the
  • CHAPTER VIII
    1. HAT TRICKS
    2. Finger pushed through a hat
    3. Funnels produced from a hat
    4. Mysterious production in a hat of a glass containing two handkerchiefs
    5. To make boxes for production from a hat
    6. To pass a die through a hat
    7. To pass a glass through a hat
    8. To produce a cannon ball in a hat
    9. To produce a coloured paper from a hat
    10. To produce a glass of water in a hat
  • CHAPTER IX
    1. MESMERIC AND MAGNETIC TRICKS
    2. Magic wand, the
    3. Magnetic ruler, the
    4. Magnetic stick, the
    5. Magnetic umbrellas, the
    6. Mesmerised chair, the
  • CHAPTER X
    1. ADVANCED TRICKS
    2. Archery shots
    3. Birds shot from a bag into a cage
    4. Bowl of ink changed to a bowl of clear water containing fish
    5. Changing egg trick, the
    6. Changing glass and bottle
    7. Colour-changing billiard balls, the
    8. Conjurer's pistol, the
    9. Cylinder trick, the
    10. Diminishing billiard ball, the
    11. Empty bottle, the
    12. Fire eating
    13. Fishing in the auditorium
    14. Flying bird-cage
    15. Great drum trick, the
    16. Great tambourine trick, the
    17. Magic aquarium, the
    18. Magic pipe or ladle trick, the
    19. Mixed sand in a basin
    20. Multiplying billiard ball, the
    21. Production of cage and birds
    22. Sack trick, the
    23. To balance an egg on a walking stick
    24. To draw a cord through a person
    25. To fire a marked bullet at performer's head without injury
    26. To get an egg into a narrow-necked bottle
    27. To pass a sword through a person
    28. To produce a barber's pole
    29. To produce a bird in a cage
    30. To produce a walking stick
    31. To produce flowers from a sheet of paper
    32. To produce writing on a slate
    33. Trunk mystery, the
    34. Vanishing bird and cage, the
  • CHAPTER XI
    1. MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS
    2. Glove and head
    3. False finger for palming or producing
    4. Introductory trick with glove and wand
    5. Magical key and ring
    6. Magical production of a plant
    7. Magic matchbox, the
    8. Magic ring and wand
    9. Optical illusion with a ring, an
    10. Optical illusion with a watch, an
    11. Optical illusion with money, an
    12. Submissive musical box, the
    13. To boil water in paper
    14. To catch hoops on the arms with thumbs tied together
    15. To change a card into a flower
    16. To produce a bowl of gold fish
    17. To produce a glass of water
    18. To produce a lighted candle from the pocket
    19. To produce an omelet without eggs
    20. To produce yards of ribbon from the mouth
    21. To reproduce a piece of paper that has been torn up
    22. To stick a knife through a person's finger
    23. To suspend a ball in the air and make it run about without any apparent support
    24. Travelling thimble, the
    25. Trick carrot, the
    26. Vanishing glass of water, the
    27. Vanishing wand, the
  • CHAPTER XII
    1. TRICKS WITH MATCHES AND NUMERALS
    2. Animated matches, the
    3. Four squares changed to three
    4. Magical properties of the number nine, the
    5. Square of nine, the
    6. To form four triangles with six matches
    7. To lift twelve matches with one
    8. To multiply a number of matches
    9. To support a glass on a bridge of three matches, each one of which rests on a glass
    10. Twenty-four matches on a table to form nine squares, take away eight matches and leave two squares; only
    11. Waling match, the
  • CHAPTER XIII
    1. SHADOWGRAPHY
  • CHAPTER XIV
    1. SECOND SIGHT
  • CHAPTER XV: PROGRAMMES
    1. Three programmes for a quarter of an hour's entertainment
    2. Three programmes for half an hour's entertainment
    3. Programme for an evening's drawing-room entertainment

word count: 47324 which is equivalent to 189 standard pages of text