The Parlor Magician
by Wiljalba Frikell

100 tricks for the drawing room.

Containing an extensive and miscellaneous collection of conjuring and legerdemain; sleights with dice, dominoes, cards, ribbons, rings, fruit, coins, balls, handkerchiefs, etc. All of which may be performed in the parlor or drawing room. Without the aid of any apparatus; also embracing a choice variety of curious deceptions which may be performed with the aid of simple apparatus.

Table of Contents

• PART I. TRICKS OF LEGERDEMAIN, CONJURING, SLEIGHT OF HAND, AND OTHER FANCIES, COMMONLY CALLED "WHITE MAGIC"
  • Preliminary Observation
  • Palming Coin
  • The Magic Coin
  • To Untie a Double Knot without Touching it
  • Knocking the Head against a Door
  • To bring Two separate Coins into One Hand
  • The Dancing Quarter
  • The Invisible Coin
  • The Magic Handkerchief
  • How to make a Coin stick against the Walk
  • The Knife in the Decanter
  • The Dancing Egg
  • The Disappearing Dime
  • The Melting Coin
  • The Quarter Eagle Coin in the Wine-Glass
  • The Balls passing under a Plate
  • The Coffee Cups
  • The Dice
  • The Blindfold Sorcerer
  • Blind-Man's Buff with Dominoes
  • The Domino Oracle
  • Dominoes seen and counted through all Obstacles
  • To Guess the two Ends of a Line of Dominoes
  • A Droll Drawing-Room Trick
  • The Needle and Thread Trick
  • The Thumb and String Trick
  • To Pull a String through your Button-Hole
  • To Cause a Dime to Appear in a Glass
  • The String and the Stick
  • How to Strike the Knuckles without Hurting Them
  • Deceptive Vision
  • The Magic Bond
  • To Swallow a Barber's Pole
  • The Hat and Quarter Trick
  • Conjuring a Ring
  • Magic Money
  • The Vanishing Dime
  • The String and Corals
  • The "Twenty Cent" Trick
  • The Book and Key Oracle
  • To make a Dime pass through a Table
  • The Restored Ribbon
  • To remove a Key from a Double String which is held in a Person's two Hands, without his being able to Prevent it
  • To eat a Peck of Paper Shavings, and convert them into a Ribbon
  • To make a Dime Vanish
  • The Wonderful Hat
  • The Magnetized Cane
  • An amusing Trick for the Drawing-Room, and a good Subject for a Wager
  • To Lift Three Matches with One
  • The Old Man and his Chair
  • The Interlaced Fingers
  • The Confederate Coin
  • The Disentangled Scissors
  • How to Drop a Tumbler on the Floor without Breaking it
  • The String and Nose Trick
  • The Magical Knot
  • The Dagger Sleight, or how to make Three Wafers vanish and reappear again
  • The Mysterious Release
  • The Separated Corks
  • The Ribbon Released
  • The Handcuffs
  • The Vanished Pencil
  • How to Pass a Thread through the Eye of a Needle several times
  • Post and String Trick
  • The Pirate and the Yankee Sailors, a Nautical Trick
  • The Thumb-String
  • The Magical Metamorphosis
  • The Double Half-Hitch Trick
• PART II. TRICKS IN WHITE MAGIC PERFORMED BY THE AID OF INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCE, AND SIMPLE APPARATUS
  • The Pepper-box Trick
  • The Celebrated "Nut Trick"
  • The Bag of Eggs
  • A Handkerchief Marked, Cut, Torn, and Mended
  • A Watch Pounded in a Mortar
  • The Box of Eggs or Balls
  • The Boomerang
  • An old Style Quarter changed into a Cent, and vice versa
  • To Pierce the Arm with a Knife, without injuring One's self
  • Magic Boxes
  • The Boxes of Millet
  • The Manner of making a Ring change Hands, and pass on to any Finger you please of the opposite Hand
  • A Pass Trick with a Die and Counters
  • To pass Six Cents through a Table
  • Mysterious Coin, or how to make Cents Pass through a Wine Glass, a China Plate, a Table, and Fall into the Hand
  • The Glass of Claret Changed into a Shower of Rose Leaves
  • The Cone, or Skittle
  • Pile or Cone: A much more Amusing Game than that of Heads or Tails
  • The Magic Salver
  • How Two and Two Make Eight
  • To Change a Dime to a Quarter
  • The Ring and the Handkerchief
  • The Miniature Taglioni
  • The Pigeon's Nest
  • The Inseparable Sticks; or, the Cut Strings Restored
  • The Feather Trick Explained
  • To make a String Appear Black and White Alternately
  • To Pass a Quarter into a Ball of Worsted
  • Eatable Candle-Ends
  • The Burned Handkerchief Restored
  • The Magic Cups
  • The Wizard's Chain
  • The Goldfish in a Vase of Ink

1st edition 1860, 126 pages; PDF 82 pages.
word count: 31726 which is equivalent to 126 standard pages of text