A master class on card technique, giving the 19 possible effects in all of card magic, the 16 basic sleight-of-hand accomplishments, and details on what is required to become an expert with cards. The first six chapters alone are a "must read" for all magicians, as they will most certainly provide motivation and (hopefully) inspiration to improve their routines.
Also included is a completely rewritten and illustrated explanation of Buckley's Thirty Card Problems book, including explanations and illustrations of the necessary sleights, supplementary suggestions, presentation ideas, observations, comments and advice on acquiring facility in advanced card techniques.
Partial contents:
CHAPTER ONE
A Delusion - The Card Expert's Secret - Good and Bad Tricks - Pleasant Ways to Waste Time - Magicians As Audiences - The Magician's Real Audience - Laying Out the Lay-Down - Something Must Be Added - A Rule For Selecting Good Tricks - What Is a Card Expert?
CHAPTER TWO
Few From So Many - The Nineteen Basic Card Tricks - And Their Combinations - Dressing - Six Transpositions - Five Cunning Disguises
CHAPTER THREE
Many Sleight-of-Hand Moves - Does the Expert Learn Them All? - The Expert's Qualifications Vary With the Viewpoint - To the Card Expert - To the Magician - To the Layman - Secret Operations - Three Classes of Technique - The Mystic Sixteen
CHAPTER FOUR
The Sixteen Accomplishments With Card Moves - Identity - Whereabouts - Substitution - Removal - Concealment - Arrangement - Disguise - Possession - Counting - Forcing - Searching - Miscounting - Addition - Reversal - Movement - Skill - Examples
CHAPTER FIVE
It All Seems So Simple - Dated Methods - Changes Seem to Simplify - Methods Depend Upon Character - Easier Substitutes - A Subtlety - Reasons For Variation in Method - How to Do It
CHAPTER SIX
Obsessions, Objections and Observations - Elsa Maxwell On Card Tricks - Slants on Sleights - Interest for the Spectator - Sleuthing Unvarnished - Stage Setting Shamusry - What Can Be Done With Cards - Changes in Styles - Skill Versus Psychology - Making the Sleights Part of the Trick - A Suggestion for Confidence
CHAPTER SEVEN
A Different Thirty Card Trick - The Two-Handed Pass - A Simplified Pass - The Shuffle Pass - The False Shuffle - Envelope Placement Steal - Envelope Transfer - Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Presentation?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Spell It - Fan Jog - Charts for Spelling - The Trained Dog Presentation
CHAPTER NINE
Transposition Extraordinary - Transferring the Kings - The Force - Tips On Forcing - Outs - Ideas On Acting - Conviction, With an Assist From The Moscow Art Theatre - The Top Change - The Top Change With Several Cards
CHAPTER TEN
Separation - How Experts Become Experts - Experts Are Normal Humans - Trying the Impossible - Thumb Count From the Bottom - The Erdnase Bottom Palm - Returning Palmed Cards to the Bottom of the Pack - The Bottom Deal - Palming
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Card and Envelope - Card and Cigarette - Double Envelope - Indetecto - Nail Marking - Buried Treasure Presentation
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cards Mysterio - The Crimp - Indifferent Card Inserted at Selected Card - The Riffle Shift - The Second Deal - Sympathy in Choice - The Mental Fan Force - Card Under Foot - The Fan Crimp - The Thumb Count From Top - The Double Lift - The Modified Downs Change
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A Pack of Cards and Four Pockets - The Arrangement - First Effect - The Blind Cut - One-Hand Riffle - Second Effect - The Pocket Arrangement - Counting Cards in the Pocket - The Sympathetic Cards - The Two-Handed Double Pass - To Shuffle Three Cards From Top to Bottom - The Steal Cut - The Milk Build Shuffle - The Flesh Grip - The Buckley Bottom Shift - The Side Steal - Discussion
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Four Aces - The Glide - Conjurors' Choice - Card Under Hat - Envelope Card Steal - One Card From Ten - Atom Bomb Presentation - Is the Card You Thought of There? - The Index Fan Sight - Slap Cards - The Side Steal Color Change - Alternatives - Selected Card At Any Number - The Riffle Force - The Two-Handed Pass Above Bottom Card
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Twenty Cards in Transit - Hand-To-Hand Transfer - A False Count - The Color Change - Red or Black - Friction - A Triple Climax - The Slap Shift - The Push Up Steal - Cards to the Pocket - Novelty Legitimate Count - Six-Card Palm - A False Count - The Slide Vanish
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Burglar - Secret Removal Between Two Cards - Psychic Photography - X-Ray - Arrangement - Stabbing Between Chosen Cards in Wrapped Pack - The Bridge - Stabbing Chosen Cards While Blindfolded
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Mystic Paper Slips - A Billet File - From the Pocket - System - Jordan Plus An Old Arrangement
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Tricks, Methods and Individuals - Substitutions for the Independent - Ways and Means - Courage and Perseverance
Praise from the pros:
"A well-written and valuable addition to the serious card worker's bookshelf." - Bill Woodfield
"For the modest price you get a lot of card conjuring and, best of all, it's the sort of material you'll actually use." - Sid Lorraine
"If you do any card effects, you can't be without it. Filled with valuable information." - Tom Dethlefsen
"There is probably no magician or writer better qualified to write on card magic than Dariel Fitzkee" - Ed Dart
"An outstanding work containing some first class and entertaining card effects." - George Armstrong
1st edition 1948; PDF 185 pages.
word count: 64349 which is equivalent to 257 standard pages of text
