Books in the Dover Magic Books series

Clear diagrams and step-by-step instructions for performing 18 simple feats of prestidigitation: Strength Test, Untangled, Elastic Lock, Mystic Spinner, Rollaway, Heavyset, The Great Escape and many more, using such ordinary objects as coins, rubber bands and string.

Covers every significant aspect -- from palming to clairvoyance, vanishing and producing an object, etc. Explains hundreds of astonishing tricks -- with coins, cups and balls, handkerchiefs, cards, more. 57 illustrations.

This profusely illustrated book demonstrates step by step the astonishing card magic cultivated by one of the premier sleight-of-hand artists of the 20th century. Australian-born Arthur H. Buckley became well-known in America for the magic he worked with cards on the major vaudeville circuits of the 1920s. Here he reveals the secrets of his art.

To the magician and to most audiences, card manipulations are the most fascinating type of card trick. Since the manipulator's skill is the only determining factor, once a degree of card dexterity is acquired the performer can go on to learn tricks sure to entertain, at any time, with no further preparation, using any available deck of cards for the performance. In this five-book series, Jean Hugard, master performer on stage and with small groups, teaches the passes, palming methods, shuffles, arm spreads, color reverses, sleights, flourishes, set-ups, and tricks in the best professional versions. After showing the basic manipulations, he develops a number of exceptional tricks where the manipulations are used. A number of illustrations and step-by-step explanations teach each detail as the trick would be given in a performance. By working through these tricks, from the simple to the complex, the magician learns his skills in a professional manner and also gains a wide repertoire of specific tricks. Throughout the book a great number of manipulations and over a hundred tricks are explained. The keys to these tricks are not well known outside professional magicians' groups. But to the advanced beginner or semiprofessional who has some degree of card skill, the manipulations and tricks developed in this book will add to the dexterity of the performance, give hours of rigorous skill-developing practice, and help build a professional, well-rounded repertoire with cards. Unabridged, slightly altered, republication of the original (1934-36) series.

With this book by an expert in magic and card conjuring, youngsters can master a host of tricks especially designed for them. Card-trick newcomers need no special skills--just a willingness to practice--to accomplish such astonishing stunts as finding a card under seemingly impossible conditions. Illustrations.

When party guests request a few tricks, be prepared. Ask for a coin, and perform some of the tricks in this book. Because you will not have been aided by special stage apparatus, the results will be all the more astonishing. As tricks with coins are so readily improvised, they are among the most impressive forms of legerdemain.This book is the most complete treatise ever written on sleight-of-hand coin conjuring. Celebrated magician J. B. Bobo has gathered here the best and most useful of all coin tricks--not only his own, but those of some four dozen notable prestidigitators, including such greats as Robert-Houdin, Professer Hoffman, and--the greatest of all coin conjurers--T. Nelson Downs.All the tested, traditional methods of coin magic are here. Bobo has added to these the best of the modern innovations, while eliminating all of the out-of-date and impractical sleights of his sources. You will learn all about palms, holds, flips, switches, change-over, steals, cuffing, sleeving, and other sleight-of-hand techniques; coin tricks requiring special devices are also included. The author guides how systematically from basic techniques, concealments, and vanishes, through integrated tricks, to complete routine acts (18 in all). His clear explanations are splendidly complemented by 510 of Nelson C. Hahne's crisp illustrations.Sleight-of-hand magic has consistently earned the respect of professional magicians. If you are yet an amateur, this easy-to-follow manual--together with regular practice--is the surest route to professional-level competence. For professionals, this volume is a convenient encyclopedic reference that gathers in one place all the best coin magic from antiquity to modern times.