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The Fine Art of Magic, 2nd Edition
by George G. Kaplan & Warren J. Kaps

$59.50

(5 reviews, 10 customer ratings) ★★★★

The Fine Art of Magic, 2nd Edition by George G. Kaplan & Warren J. Kaps

Some have argued that George Kaplan's Fine Art of Magic is the best magic book ever published. Juan Tamariz, who wrote a foreword to this second edition, says: "Hardly a performance where I do not include an effect from this book. It's the only book that contains only good and excellent tricks."

This magic treatise has stood the test of time. It has become a standard magic reference work. The First Edition is one of the most sought after magic books and is now available in its Second Edition, which incorporates additions and corrections from Kaplan's own notes, as well as adds more than 25% new and unpublished magic.

The (e)book has been completely reformatted. The original illustrations by Frances Rigney have been preserved, and additional illustrations for new content have been created by Tony Dunn. The printed and digital editions are identical in terms of contents.

[Please note that the hardcover edition is a print-on-demand book and will take typically 2-3 weeks until you will hold it in your hands.]

"Everything anyone could expect of a book on magic - An outstanding collection of new, completely practical and easily workable tricks. ... There are no idle dreams,... but practical effects which have been audience tested time and time again. The close attention given to detail, the simplicity of working and the various subtleties employed, all point to the fact that much careful thought has gone before and that only a result approaching perfection would suffice ... It's a fine book." - J.G. Thompson, Jr.

"I've spotted a dozen tricks I've put down for immediate use, and any number of other items I'll get into in the future. ... The material is good solid magic - there are no pipe-dreams ... I can't praise the book too highly." - Frederick Braue

"Here is a book of exquisite conjuring. I recommend it enthusiastically to every magician ... It's great." - John Crimmins

Paul Fleming wrote about the 1st edition:

The Fine Art of Magic, by George G. Kaplan, is an entirely new, thoroughly American work. It is the outcome of twenty years or more of analysis, invention, and actual presentation of magic by Mr. Kaplan, whose ingenious feats and striking improvements have aroused the wonder and admiration of many of our best-informed experts. It is, in a very real sense of the term, the "life work" of a man who, though not a professional conjurer, has obviously given an enormous amount of study to the art of magic and made important contributions to its practice by devising new principles, new ways of employing old ones, and some very fine wholly new effects. The present release of this material to the conjuring fraternity must be credited largely to Jean Hugard, who persuaded Mr. Kaplan that the book should be written and agreed to serve as its editor.

An inspection of The Fine Art of Magic discloses the fact that it is a volume of 352 pages, divided into eleven chapters. There are 24 explanations which may be classified as "methods," consisting of sleights, principles, and subtleties. In addition to these means to an end are 80 complete tricks. These include 30 card tricks, eight of which are suitable for platform presentation as well as close-up work; 29 mindreading effects, of which 19 make use of playing-cards and ten employ "props" of other kinds; six tricks with coins; and 15 miscellaneous effects, six of which are classified by the author as platform feats. In the final chapter, entitled Concluding Observations, Mr. Kaplan gives some sound advice on the selection, routining, and indexing of tricks, and lists the items which make up three of his own programs, selected from among the feats explained in his book.

A feature of The Fine Art of Magic that is sure to find favor with many readers is the author's development of a variation of the short-card, called by him the "corner-short" and built into a system of card conjuring which is beautifully deceptive. This simple fake - a single prepared card that can be made by the reader for himself in the matter of a few minutes - makes it possible for the performer to control one or more cards selected or merely peeked at by a spectator, using either the conjurer's pack or a borrowed one, and also to get possession of a desired packet instantly, to retain a prearranged pack in order, and to perform other useful operations. The corner short finds specific application in eight excellent tricks that are explained in Chapter 3; but it is in fact a device which can be used continually by card workers, and one which will particularly delight those who have been discouraged by the difficulties of the "pass" and other standard sleights and are searching for new and better methods of card control.

Card control is also the subject matter of Chapter 2. The procedures here described are thoroughly practicable and comparatively easy methods of handling cards without indulging in any suspicious "moves." Mr. Kaplan is a strong advocate of having cards peeked at instead of drawn from the pack by spectators; and his explanations of the Peek and the Step are excellent illustrations of the ease with which peeked at cards may be promptly and effectively brought under control. Other subtle sleights found in the chapter are the author's methods of riffle-forcing, false-cutting, glimpsing, and an especially good sleight which he calls Master Card Control. Very simple but also very good is his Impromptu Marking of Cards.

The thousands of magical enthusiasts who are particularly fond of magic with cards will rejoice at the substantial amount of space given to card tricks. In addition to the card work we have already noted, and the 19 mindreading tricks in which cards are used, there are a 52-page section (Chapter 4) on close-up card conjuring and another of 37 pages (Chapter 5) on card tricks for the platform. Among the most attractive close-up feats are the Will-o'-the-Wisp Routine (10 pages), in which four playing cards are apparently caused to pass one by one (as each is covered in turn with a 7-inch square of cardboard) through a spread-out newspaper - with only one cardboard cover required; The "Stop!" Fan Discovery, the detection of a chosen card by having the chooser call "Stop!" as the performer moves his finger along the edge of the fanned pack with the backs of the cards toward the spectator; A Lesson in Misdirection, a 5-page explanation of an improved version of Dai Vernon's' Follow the Leader, with the need for the "pass" eliminated; the Rex Card Mystery (10 pages) and The Royal Assembly (6 pages), in which widely separated are brought together in groups; and Multiple Do As I Do, with the cards handled only by spectators and the performer simply directing the proceedings.

The eight platform card tricks in Chapter 5 include Giant Trio-Flight (7 pages), in which the magical transfer of three cards from one counted packet to another becomes distinctly a stage effect; Card-Stabbing (5 pages), the author's own version of this sterling effect, making use of a clever "switch" of packs; The Kaplan Rising Cards, a virtually automatic procedure with freely chosen cards; The Card in the Balloon (7 pages), worked in combination with The Torn and Restored Card; A Winning Wager, a sensational feat with giant cards, in which the performer with perfect safety wagers "twenty dollars to nothing" that he will successfully predict which one of five freely chosen cards a spectator will select; and The Kaplan Torn and Restored Card, which has several novel features including the magical threading of the restored card on a piece of silk ribbon.

"My personal preference has been for tricks of the 'mental' variety," says the author in his foreword. This preference is apparent in the 90 pages or so of mind-reading effects in Chapters 6 and 7. The feats explained in the first of these two chapters are in reality card tricks, but card tricks that are converted into astounding demonstrations of "mentalism" by the presentation prescribed by Mr. Kaplan. Particularly strong effects are his two versions of The Calcutta Mystery, in which the performer seems to exclude all possibility of trickery and yet infallibly predicts the names of cards that are about to be selected; a greatly improved form of The Princess Card Trick, a favorite of the late Nate Leipzig and other card experts; The Yogi's Secret, the discovery (by means of an intriguing new principle) of an out-of-the-room selection; a new version of Dai Vernon's Brain Wave Deck, worked with an ordinary pack of cards; Mahatma Card Control (a trick first explained, we believe, in Sach's Sleight-of-Hand, and much favored by such experts as Nate Leipzig, Al Baker, and Sam Horowitz), in which Mr. Kaplan has made changes which strengthen its immeasurably; and Information, Please! a much improved form of Hilliard's well-known telephone trick. Other good effects in this chapter are two versions of Do As I Do, three card-spelling tricks, and two billet-reading tests.

The second of the chapters on mindreading (Chapter 7) consists of feats in which playing cards, if used at all, play a purely incidental role. The Trance Quick-and-Dead Test here described is an improvement on the familiar demonstrations of this type, in that it not only enables the performer, with speed and without arousing suspicion, to discover the "billet" on which the deceased person's name has been written, but even to announce the name before unfolding the billet. A Capitol Problem, a Kaplan invention with a bewildering effect, is the straightforward discovery of the name of an American President that has been written on a card by a spectator. Mind-Figures is a test in "mental photography," in which the performer seemingly does the impossible by duplicating on a card a geometrical design drawn by a spectator on another card. The Spirit-Slates and Magazine Test gives the effect of producing on two blank slates a message relating to material found on a freely chosen page of a magazine that has been freely selected from a group of four. (The "slate" portion of this test can be used to advantage in many other tricks.)

A Cigarette-Paper Pellet Switch is an undetectable move that enables the magician apparently to get a "spirit message" on an examined cigarette-paper - or, for that matter, to perform The Torn and Restored Cigarette-Paper - and reminds this reviewer of the exquisite work of this type that Karl Germain used to do. The Three-Billet Test No. 3 is a most excellent revelation of a playing-card, a telephone number, and the name of a deceased person which have been written secretly by three spectators. Among the other items in this chapter are two devices that should prove useful in many tricks: (1) an unsuspicious "force" of three numbers, with the aid of a packet of 12 playing cards, and (2) a procedure for forcing "odd" or "even," as may be desired, by means of a throw of dice by a spectator.

Six items with coins (one of which is an effective sleight, and another a puzzle transformed into a clever little mystery) are described in Chapter 8. The Okito Coin-Box, a standard piece of conjuring equipment originated by Theo Bamberg, is the basis of a fine close-up trick which Mr. Kaplan explains in detail. The Stack of Quarters is the author's modernization of a classic feat to which Nate Leipzig, Emil Jarrow, and other well-known magicians have given much attention. Six pages of text and 13 illustrations are used to describe thoroughly "certain subtleties in the correct presentation which are absolutely essential" for getting the maximum effect out of this trick. The Sympathetic Coins, praised by T. Nelson Downs as "one of the finest coin tricks in existence," is rendered more interesting and baffling than ever through the use of two silver and two copper coins instead of four coins of the same kind. As a "follow-up" to this feat, Mr. Kaplan explains a smooth, exceedingly subtle way to remove either of two coins (silver or copper, as freely determined by a spectator), both of which have apparently been securely wrapped in the center of a handkerchief.

Chapter 9 presents 11 miscellaneous items. In The Spirit Handkerchief, good use is made of the well-known "Thayer cabby." The Brema Tube and Bill is a carefully arranged routine with familiar equipment, described with five pages of print and seven illustrations. A Billiard-Ball Transposition is the mystifying transfer of a red and a white ball. The Trap-Door 'Kerchief is an ingenious accessory (which the reader can construct for himself) for "switching" packs of cards and other objects. New light is shed on cigarette-vanishing and rope-cutting; and there are three close-up effects with, respectively, a pin, a die, and some matchsticks.

Probably the most effective tricks in the book - and tricks which are suitable for stage presentation as well as, in some instances, for close-up work - are the six that are explained in Chapter 10, under the title Miscellaneous Platform Tricks. Ben Ali's Rope (7 pages, 18 illustrations) is the author's own version of The Cut and Restored Rope. The Lemon Trick (10 pages, 14 illustrations) is Jarrow's familiar feat in undetectable form, with a detailed description of the best dollar-bill "switch" we have ever seen. Card, Crystal Ball, and Panties is a comedy routine which is largely spoiled for this reviewer who happens to feel that the display of underwear, real or imitation, has no place in a conjuring performance. The Gypsy Thread (9 pages, 18 illustrations) is a perfect gem of clear-cut magic, which Frederick Braue has admiringly called "the Tarbell Rope Trick done with thread." The Comedy of Errors (7 pages, 6 illustrations) is a candle and handkerchief-mindreading combination that includes a half-dozen genuinely funny situations and is quite free of technical difficulties. Finally comes The Kaplan Nest of Boxes Routine (8 pages, 9 illustrations), in which articles borrowed from the audience are caused to disappear and are found shortly thereafter in the innermost of a nest of locked boxes that has been in full view of the audience since the beginning of the performance. In his version of this feat, Mr. Kaplan has eliminated the necessity of using a stage assistant and has made this typically stage trick one which may be shown equally well to large or small audiences.

In line with our general policy of reviewing publications of the Fleming Book Company as objectively as possible, we have emphasized description rather than appraisal in this examination of The Fine Art of Magic; and when we have ventured to praise specific tricks or the book as a whole, we have sought to err, if at all, on the side of under-statement. Our summary of the book should give a reasonably good idea of the nature of its contents, and it necessarily falls far short of suggesting the brilliance of many of the feats and the beautiful simplicity of their execution. Having had the good fortune to witness the performance of a dozen or so of these tricks before knowing how they were done, we can testify to their bewildering effect; and having read the book, in manuscript and proof, a half-dozen times, we may be pardoned for waxing enthusiastic over the expository talents of Mr. Kaplan and his editor, Jean Hugard, and also the remarkably illuminating drawings by Francis Rigney, which are notable for their profusion, clarity, and wealth of detail. lf any work on conjuring has had better illustrations, it has escaped our notice.

The Fine Art of Magic is a book of 352 (x+342) large pages, with 316 line drawings. It is produced in the format of The Fleming Magic Classic Series, being printed from large, clear Baskerville type on Warren's Olde Style White Wove paper, bound in bright red Bancroft buckram, and goldstamped on front cover and spine. The index was prepared by the present reviewer, who predicts that this book will find immediate and permanent favor among the host of magicians who are ever on the lookout for really first-class tricks, for here are sound mysteries that are baffling, entertaining, practicable, and capable of being presented successfully by any serious student of magic who will give the author's carefully written instructions a reasonable amount of intelligent attention and practice.

  • Contents
  • Forward To The First Edition
  • Introduction To The Second Edition
  • Preface
  • About George G. Kaplan
  • About Warren J. Kaps
  • Chapter 1 Corner-Short & Breather
    • The Corner-Short
    • The Secret Gadget
    • The Breather Crimp
    • Advantages Of The Corner-Short And Breather Procedure
    • The Pencil Dot
    • Locating The Corner-Short Or Breather, And The Delayed-Action Control
    • Avoiding Contrasts
    • To Bring The Corner-Short Or Breather To The Top Of The Pack
    • The Kaplan Fan Cut
    • To Bring The Corner-Short Or Breather To The Bottom Of The Pack
    • To Control A Selected Card By Means Of The Corner-Short Or Breather
    • The Kaplan Control Of A Glimpsed Card By Means Of The Corner-Short Or Breather
    • Retaining Control Of Several Glimpsed Cards By Means Of The Corner-Short Or Breather
    • Controlling Three Selected Cards By Means Of The Corner-Short Or Breather
    • To Bring A Prearranged Packet Above A Chosen Card By Means Of The Corner-Short Or Breather
    • Obtaining A Desired Packet Instantly By Means Of The Corner-Short Or Breather
    • Using The Corner-Short Or Breather To Retain A Prearranged Deck In Order
  • Chapter 2 Subtle Sleights
    • Master Card Control
    • The Rifle-Force - A New Angle
    • The Gambler's False-Cut
    • The Peek
    • The Step-Control Of A Peeked At Card
    • To Glimpse Or Sight A Card Secretly
    • Impromptu Marking Of Cards
  • Chapter 3 Tricks Employing Corner-Short Or Breather Crimp
    • Out-Of-The-Room Selection
    • The X-Ray Location
    • Double-Back Corner-Short Location
    • Mind-Reading With Two Subjects
    • The "Impossible" Discovery
    • The Twenty-Sixth Card Location - Using A Corner-Short
    • Au Naturelle
    • The Topsy-Turvy Fan
    • The Kings Arise
  • Chapter 4 Close-Up Card Tricks
    • Will-O'-The Wisp Routine
    • New Card Affinity
    • Revello Card Circle
    • The "Stop!" Fan Discovery
    • Kaplan's Clock Trick
    • A Lesson In Misdirection
    • Rex Card Mystery
    • Multiple Do As I Do
    • Follow The Arrow
    • The Card In The Shoe
    • The Royal Assembly
    • The Captain Kid Card (1st Version)
    • The Captain Kid Card (2nd Version)
    • Magnetic Thought Transference
    • The Jokers Are On Me!
  • Chapter 5 Platform Card Tricks
    • The Lie Detector
    • Giant Trio-Flight
    • Card-Stabbing
    • The Kaplan Rising Cards
    • The Card In The Balloon
    • A Winning Wager
    • The Kaplan Torn And Restored Card
    • The Chameleon Card
  • Chapter 6 Mind Reading Tricks With Cards
    • Ultra Modern Mentalism
    • The Calcutta Mystery (First Version)
    • The Calcutta Mystery (Second Version)
    • The Bombay Mystery
    • Think
    • Do As I Do
    • The Princess Card Trick
    • The Yogi's Secret
    • The New Brain-Wave Deck
    • Mahatma Thought Control
    • Psychic Sympathy
    • Twenty-One Cards - A Double Prediction
    • Crystal Clairvoyance
    • Dial
    • Information, Please!
    • The Medium's Card Test
    • Yogi Spelling Test
    • The Eighteen-Cards Spelling Trick
    • The Triple Spelling Trick
    • The Three-Billet Test No. 1
    • The Three-Billet Test No. 2
    • And Then There Were None
    • Zig-Zag
  • Chapter 7 More Mind-Reading Tricks
    • The Trance Quick-And-Dead Test
    • A Capitol Problem
    • An Improved Sealed-Message Reading
    • Mind-Figures
    • The Spirit-Slates And Magazine Test
    • A Cigarette-Paper Pellet Switch
    • The Three-Billet Test No. 3
    • Forcing Three Numbers
    • The Odd-Even Force
  • Chapter 8 Coin Tricks
    • The Kaplan Coin Switch
    • The Kaplan Okito-Box Presentation
    • I Do As You Do
    • The Stack Of Quarters
    • The Sympathetic Coins
    • Coin-Extraction Perfected
    • The Kaplan Coin Transposition
  • Chapter 9 Selected Tricks
    • The Spirit Handkerchief
    • A Billiard-Ball Transposition
    • The Brema Tube And Bill
    • The Cigarette Vanish In Handkerchief
    • The Trap-Door 'Kerchief
    • Tying The Knot For The Rope Trick
    • The Bent Pin And Nail
    • The Game Of "Thirty-One" Played With A Die
    • The Game Of "35"
    • The Fifteen Match-Sticks Puzzle
    • Calendar Trick
  • Chapter 10 Miscellaneous Platform Tricks
    • Ben Ali's Rope
    • The Lemon Trick
    • Card And Crystal Ball
    • The Gypsy Thread Trick
    • The Comedy Of Errors
    • The Kaplan Nest Of Boxes Routine
    • The Mystery Of The Red Block
  • Chapter 11 Amusement Area
    • Whats My Line
    • He Done Her Wrong
    • Solid Objects
    • High Finance
    • Mathematchsticks
    • In One Year And The Other
    • Magic Cross
    • On The Level
    • Affair Question
    • Party Lines
    • Hire Education
  • Chapter 12 Concluding Observations
1st edition 1948; 2nd edition 2019, 370 pages.
word count: 126965 which is equivalent to 507 standard pages of text


Reviewed by Kevin Anderson (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Wednesday 20 April, 2022

Great book! Love the History and effects in this book!

Reviewed by Marc DeSouza (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Friday 26 June, 2020

This review was first published in MUM July 2020:

The Fine Art of Magic is a true classic among magic books. Originally published by Fleming Books in 1948, it has remained a seminal text for generations of magicians. Although Jean Hugard is credited as editor of the first edition, he truly was the author, putting Kaplan's work to print. So many magicians have been inspired by this book, no less than Juan Tamariz, who penned the preface to this new edition.

I was pleased to take this opportunity to reread this book and was amazed to see how many now-classic effects are taught within. I also looked at the original side by side with this new edition to see what has changed. My friend Warren Kaps has done yeoman service in not only bringing the original back into print, but in adding much in the way of new and updated information. Many will long for the look of the original, but Lybrary has done a fine job of producing a very clear and clean layout that is easy to read. In addition, a bolder, clearer font is used. The original Frances Rigney illustrations are still here, but are augmented by additional illustrations by Tony Dunn that capture the same feel of the originals.

Reading Kaps' forward to the Second Edition lays out not only his goals, but much about the original edition. Rather than focusing on each chapter's contents and revisions, let me make an overall statement that applies to everything in this book. By using Chapter One on the corner short as an example, one can see how much has been added or revised for modern day techniques and advancements. The new title is "Corner-Short and Breather," making the case for the new editor's preference for what was really arcane knowledge of the day of the first edition, but is now a well-known tool. Kaps gives an analysis of why he prefers the newer technique. Throughout the book there are additional credits and references to newer sources for additional information on the effects and subjects noted. There are several new effects and added commentary, along with newer, better handlings for previous entries. I might add that these references are by no means voluminous and are generally acknowledging a limited grouping of more well known published works of recent vintage.

There is also a new chapter added titled "Amusement Area" that contains a number of stunts and bar bet type novelties. In Chapter Twelve, "Concluding Observations," Kaps appends a number of his own to Kaplan’s original entries. I would have preferred that he notate which were his comments versus the originals, but that is a small criticism. All in all, both of these gentlemen have provided excellent commentary.

I would be remiss if I did not at least provide a list of some of my favorites from the book. Will O' The Wisp is a fine Cards Through Newspaper assembly, later popularized by Albert Goshman. The Stop Fan Discovery is a superb forcing tool that is still in use by many. The Giant Trio Flight is a stand-up version of Cards Across using jumbo cards and envelopes that might enjoy renewed interest, along with a great handling for Card in Balloon. The Spirit Slates and Magazine Test is a favorite of Tamariz that also deserves more consideration. The Stack of Quarters has a great handling and one I use frequently. There is a superb copper/ silver handling of Sympathetic Coins. Kaplan’s routine for the Brema Bill Tube may well have you scouring your drawer for your set. For anyone considering The Bill in Lemon, you should certainly read and absorb the wonderful details provided in this book. Finally, my favorite of this tome is certainly The Gypsy Thread. Despite numerous variations, this remains the seminal work on this effect and there are details provided here that have been forgotten. It has been a constant in my own performing repertoire for over forty years.

This book has been out of print for many years and has commanded high prices on the secondary market. This is not just for its collectible nature, but that it is a wonderful resource on great, performable magic. The fact that it has been reprinted would be beneficial enough, but Warren Kaps and Lybrary.com have gone far beyond that goal. This edition deserves to stand right next to the original on its own as a new classic. Highly recommended.


Reviewed by Ricky Smith (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Wednesday 12 February, 2020

Hello! I love the Fine Art of Magic and was very excited that a new edition was coming out, especially one with an introduction by Juan Tamariz. I feel like the hardbound version that I received wasn't a great value for the price. Fleming did such a lovely job with their printing, so I was sad that the new version is just a print on demand level job...especially with the high price.

Reviewed by William Rugh (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Friday 31 January, 2020

This is a large book with 371 pages that should be in every serious magician's bookcase (or computer as a PDF). While almost 73% of the book deals with cards, a wide variety of other props are also covered. George G. Kaplan wrote (with Jean Hugard) the first edition in 1948. In 2019 Warren J. Kaps (who served as National President of S.A.M. during 2001-2002) created this second edition by updating some of the methods and adding some of his own effects. Really the best praise for this book comes from the Parent Assembly of the S.A.M. in 1995:

"His book, The Fine Art of Magic, is now considered one of the most important books on magic ever published. Like its author, it relies on effective presentation, subtleties, and clarity to create miracles. The entire world of magic is grateful to George for his contributions to its literature."


Reviewed by Chet Cox (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Thursday 30 January, 2020

We’d heard about George Kaplan and about his Fine Art of Magic* for a very long time. Never thought we’d see a copy we could afford, and I wasn’t sure it deserved its reputation. So few things do. This is one of those happy exceptions - It actually exceeds my expectations. Frankly, I find it as fun to read as Greater Magic - maybe more so. You ever try to run a search on that humongous book? Not so easy when it’s not digitized.

Kaplan seems unduly modest in his Foreword, not seeming to realize how this isn’t just another magic trick book, but a well-written book about how to perform magic. The whole project starts out on the right foot with this opening: “A good trick, properly executed, is as individual a work of art as a fine painting, and, like every work of art, is a reflection of the skills of the artist. Gone is the day when magicians sought merely to ‘fool’ their audiences. The present-day performer aims both to mystify and entertain.”

That last sentence may have been true in 1948, but a casual walk today at a magic convention or through You(too?)Tube belies the statement. Or worse, the guy performing to the public who ruins, ruins, ruins the reputation of magicians and ensures that THAT particular customer will never ever hire a magician again. Because we desperately need a lot of new magicians, real magicians, who know how to perform and entertain, who know that humans have a sense of wonder and want that itch scratched.

Yes, we need more books (BOOKS!) such as Kaplan’s Fine Art of Magic, Tarbell’s lessons, and the Amateur Magician’s Handbook**. And not only do we have them in our libraries (and in our Lybrary) but in a second edition which has been gently and respectfully seconded editionated by Warren Kaps. It’s not that the original text was wanting - it was, after all, edited and evidently written, by Jean Hugard from the work, research, and drafts of Kaplan. So there are no egos to bruise here, but there are tender feelings of the living generations of magicians and authors who want to see credits, historical origins, and possible methods which just didn’t exist in the 1940s.

See how many of today’s hot new tricks (many available as download videos for more than the price of this PDF) you find within this book. The immortal Denny Haney and I once went through his showroom and tried to find something which didn’t come out of Tarbell. We could have done much the same with this book. Because, I do not tire of repeating this, you have a choice of learning methods of tricks or learning how to perform magic.

Buy this book. Study. Practice. Your audiences will thank you.

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* Please excuse me for “fixing” the title. As past librarians and editors know, leaving the article “the” at the front of a title absolutely wrecks the ability to alphabetize anything with a title.

** Yes, here’s an exception to the aforementioned rule. Thank goodness I don’t need to alphabetize herein.

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Magic & Conjuring

Magic & Conjuring / Books (printed)