The subtitle reads: Teaching you how to give a complete evening's entertainment of new conjuring tricks with highly-amusing patter, laughable ventriloquism and a diverting magical sketch.
From the introduction:
In venturing the contribution of a second magical manual to the already large library of works on conjuring, we are impressed with the belief that however modest our attempt may be we are at least going a step in the direction toward still further popularizing the art of the conjurer. We believe it is necessary for magic to be given to the public more as an amusing entertainment than an act of mystery. By all means let our illusions be perfect, but let us offer them to our audience as the illustrations of a humorous anecdote, in the same manner that a lecturer, telling the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” uses a magic lantern to illustrate his points by producing pictures on the screen.
Mr. Tibbles, aka Selbit, walks through an entire show and explains every effect and how they are sequenced. It is a wonderful example of how to build an act with magic.
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER I
- An Experiment in Thought-Reading
- Watch, Glass, & Handkerchief Trick
- My Grandfather's Legacy
- A Bowl of Paper Shavings
- CHAPTER II A Ventriloquial Dialogue
- CHAPTER III "Spirits and Spiritualism"
- A Rap at the Rappers. An Anti-Spiritual Farce.
- ENCORE
- MAGICAL ODDS AND ENDS
- The Incubator Canister
- A New Cup and Ha'pence Trick
- A "Refreshing" Conclusion
- Personal Points on Popular People
1st edition 1906, 56 pages; PDF 77 pages.
word count: 20351 which is equivalent to 81 standard pages of text