Probably the best course on magic!
So many tricks we see today are in Tarbell in one form or another. This is a very comprehensive course on every aspect of magic. A well deserved classic, that should be in everyones collection.
Click here for more information.
Tarbell scrapbook by Kaufman
As a collector and Historian on Dr. Harlan E. Tarbell. I know how rare and hard to find the wonderful historic info and items contained inside. Here the reader will see items from nearly 100 years ago from rare file of Edwards Monthly ( a magic magazine that ran from 1909-1910 ), items from the original Tarbell System (1927) not avail in the vols on the market. Fantastic articles and writtings of and about Tarbell,delightful copies of the wonderful booklets given out durring Tarbell’s teaching lectures his life and work in magic and more. A bounty of fun reading and an interesting look back at some of the magicial offerings and more that Tarbell has left us. Note this book by Kaufman is very limited and only 100 copies were produced. Making it a bit hard to find as the historic info contained inside it’s pages. If one is interested in magic and it’s history they would enjoy this book very much.
Just a note… I am always looking to add to my historic timeline and display on Tarbell’s life and work. Please feel free to contact me at: $mailto([email protected])
Click here for more information.
If you could choose just one book on magic …
… I believe this would be a very worthy contender. Bruce Elliott’s Classic Secrets of Magic is a small book by modern standards: it has only twelve fairly short chapters, with each chapter focusing on a single basic effect and some variations. However, if you were to thoroughly study and learn the magic and routines contained within these chapters and nothing more, ever, you would have enough material to last a lifetime of magical performances.
Very few props are required, the sleights are straight forward, and the magic is beautiful.
In my magical youth I used to perform three card routines from Chapter 1 (the Spectator’s Card is Produced) with the highlight being the Card on the Ceiling; the rice bowls from Chapter 3 (Water, Water, Everywhere!); two paddle routines from Chapter 4 (The Very Peripatetic Paddle); the four ace routine from Chapter 5 (Those Four Aces!); the Egg Bag from Chapter 7 (The Egg Bag, Well Done); two matrix type effects from Chapter 8 (The Two Covers, and the Four Objects …); some simple billiard ball moves from Chapter 9 (Billiards, Magic Style); and the Ambitious Card from Chapter 11 (The Ambitous Card!). I also dreamed of performing effects with Razors, Money and the Cups and Balls from the other remaining chapters.
If you bought this book today and spent one month on each chapter and spent say $100 on props you really could be in the top 1% of magicians in the world after just twelve months. Of this I have absolutely no doubt – provided you were committed to the task, and focused just solely on each chapter of this book.
Of course if everyone did this a lot of magic dealers would go out of business. And you wouldn’t have the excitement of trying out 100’s of different tricks, gimmicks, gadgets, fine wooden and brass collector’s pieces in a vain attempt to find the ultimate effects. This book contains them all, but where is the fun in that? One book, hardly any props to buy and just reading and practicing the same routines for a year? That doesn’t sound very magical does it.
Maybe the true secret of magic is that buying magic props from dealers won’t make you a good magician, knowing 100’s of tricks won’t make you a good magician, but learning just twelve effects really well will.
Like so many magicians before me I have fallen into the trap of thinking more props will allow me to create routines for all occaisions. In reality of course, just twelve effects are needed. I know it’s fun collecting magic. I have been doing it for over thirty years. But in fact if I just had the balls to stick with the Classic Secrets of Magic, I would be more rewarded, save a fortune, and give back a lot more to the art.
Well it’s something to think about at least as we enter the new year!
Click here for more information.
Review for Darwin Ortiz At The Card Table
Everything I’ve said about CardShark applies here as well. You can go read that. However, you can bet there are more magical effects in this book than in CardShark. Some magical card plots you might be familiar with thats in this book is Do as I Did (spectator and performer cuts to the same card from two different decks – I was badly fooled, it’s real magic!), Signed Card-to-Wallet, an Ace Assembly (what people know as Jazz Aces – his sequence is very nice), and much much more. His gambling routines are superb . . as always. There is one (ok all of them but this one in particular) in here that was way too good to be revealed. It will leave people with the impression you can do anything with a deck of cards – as you demonstrate control of all 52 cards by dealing grand slams in a bridge game.
I should mention what I failed to last time that Darwin Ortiz belongs to the traditional school of sleight-of-hand. His main concern is how to entertain an audience with a normal deck of cards. Unlike some performers, Darwin Ortiz gears his routines to fool even the spectators on his left and right. His routines are not angle-prone like some tricks sold on the magic market today. You’ll really love his routines in that he’s very practical for fooling a small group of people with sleight-of-hand – just as one might expect from a real cardshark. No, he’s not a flashy, finger-flinging performer – but I remember after watching his performance that he was one person I did not want to play poker with – in fact, I was very afraid because he could hustle me without my realization.
I believe books written by Darwin Ortiz are superior to any of that I’ve read from others. His books are collegiate level. He does not offer quick tricks that stuns them for a brief moment. Every routine has the right performance duration, twist/climax, and end clean. How every trick should be performed by every performer. If you’re ready to take your card performance further that to a professional level, study his books.
Another A+. Consider this and CardShark as the same only they cover different grounds with a slight more emphasis on magic (if weighed on a balance scale). You should begin with this as it predates CardShark and also because it contains more magic schemes than it does gambling.
Click here for more information.
Review for The Annotated Erdnase
Ed Marlo felt magicians have very short memory. We often use concepts without knowing where they originated from. I can testify to that fact because recently I met a magician who could not vocalize the proper terms for each sleight-of-hand technique he used. Whenever he wanted me to realize what move he was thinking about, he just did it and said "that one." Furthermore, whenever I spoke the magic language, he always asked me to show the move so he could say "oh that!"
The Annotated Erdnase is your reference to all of the sleights created since "Expert At The Card Table" was written (back in 1902). It is simply a copy of "Expert At The Card Table" with additional sidenotes from Darwin Ortiz. For those of you who don’t know, "Expert At The Card Table" is an extraordinary book offering technical description on gambling sleights such as false cuts, false shuffles, and shifts (what magicians call the pass). These sleights described however assumes the performance is at the card table. Because it was written back a century ago, it needed an update. What the reader will find valuable is the references to many other modern, variant sleights created since then. Let me tell you, this book is loaded with information. This is one book card conjurors need in their library. If you wanted to know everything related to the slip cut, this book will let you in on that! I should mention a different book called "Revelations." The format is the same only it was written by the "Professor" Dai Vernon. In that book the focus was on the technical moves themselves, providing tips overlooked by the original author.
The Annotated Erdnase isn’t just a reference guide; it also contains informational tidbits regarding the book itself (like how many technical errors the author of "Expert At The Card Table" made). Also included is documents from Martin Gardner concerning the identity of the original author, who we still don’t know. If you’re interested on that topic, I know that new research has been done that is not in this book. Check out Genii and Magic Magazine – I believe sometime in 1999-2000.
I give this book also an A+ because it is readable, rereadable, and loaded with essential information. It will appeal to people who are interested in the history of sleight-of-hand as well as people who are looking for gambling techniques. If you’re a flashy, finger-flinging type of magician wondering if the sleight-of-hand in this book is good, look elsewhere. The sleight-of-hand techniques described have their roots in gambling.
Click here for more information.
Review of Cardshark
I had the benefit to see the reaction from a fellow magician. What shocked me is that he appeared rather less than enthusiastic about the tricks – commenting that its way too long and too difficult.
I believe the large majority of magicians will feel the same. However, I contend that the materials contained within these pages are not for the average magic hobbyist – nor is it intended for the intermediate card performer. It’s only for those very special few who have what it takes to bring the art of magic to a professional level. If you are advance in sleight of hand (particularly gambling techniques explained in "Expert Card Technique" and "Expert at the Card Table" / "Revelations" / "The Annotated Erdnase") or willing to put in the effort here you have Mr. Ortiz to provide excellent routines that will maximize their usage.
They are not easy. I can tell you right now that one sleight requires over 700 hours of practice before mastery – which Darwin Ortiz claims that 1 in 10,000 people can do. But the dividend it pays back more than suffices for your time spent. These are genuine card miracles for the close-up conjuror.
As the title suggests, this book consists mainly of routines regarding gambling themes such as the Scarne effect (cutting to four aces after spectator shuffles the deck). However, it also contain routines with magical themes – such as Mr. Ortiz’s construction on a Card-to-Wallet effect and Mr. Ortiz’s version of Brother John Hamman’s famous signed card. But what a student will find most valuable is the performance tip that the author gives from his experience through performing his creations over hundreds of time. He offers his rather sharp insights and observations. Everything he discusses has been performed before being in print.
I wish I could write more on the book but I need to get offline and pay attention to my wife. You’ll have to just check it out to know what I mean. I remember being nonplussed (and that’s an understatement!) when I first saw Darwin Ortiz’s performance. My mind was racing for an explanation when I saw him perform One-Handed Poker Deal; I was wondering if it was real magic because intellectually I could not understand it. But even if you don’t plan on using his routines, it is worth reading to see how he thinks. He has a very special mind thats worth looking at. When he describes other people’s sleight like Mike Close’s Spread Control, he changes the handling in such a subtle way. Alright, I got to go. I hope the review was useful.
Strong presentation, readable, reread value, and great illustrations. I must give the book an A+.
Click here for more information.
Wow, this is amazing!
So maybe you’re ready to move up from Si Stebbins or the Eight Kings to a stacked deck that not only looks like a shuffled deck, but is still easy to learn.
Then Osterlind’s Breakthrough Card System is for you. Just setting the deck up once you very quickly get the idea, and if you just spend an hour dealing out cards you’ll have the stack down. It’s really quite amazing how this works, but it does and I thank Richard Osterlind for publishing it.
Apart from the stack rules, it comes with some extra tips to get very proficient, fast and a selection of effects. Of course there are so many effects that could benefit from a stacked deck that you’ll soon be breathing new life into many old chestnuts.
Highly recommended!
Click here for more information.
A well honored craftsman
For those who know Mel Babcock and his work, this is an excellent collection of stories, tidbits, descriptions, and pictures of his life and his workmanship. Mel builds some great items and his prices makes these pieces a real steal. His Nested Boxes and Instant Transposition, all handcrafted in exotic woods, are truly exceptional items and speak well of his skills.
The book is well written and adorned with black and white photos, but the color images of his magic towards the end of the book is a real treat. I liked the chapter detailing Mel’s steps in making a die box and the one describing the various exotic woods used in his apparatus. This is definitely a fact filled book on a wonderful man and his contribution to magic. Most highly recommended!! Only 500 copies were printed.
Click here for more information.
A great textbook for a college level course
I first read this book when I was in the 8th grade (along with Expert at the Card Table by Erdnase). The title could well be "The Magicians Handbook" as it is truly professional in its scope. The appendix is great for magic terms and proper names of magic props. I first found this book in a library and now I own my own copy. I hope it never goes out of print.
Click here for more information.
What a wonderfully upbeat Author!
Frances Ireland (Marshall) wrote this wonderful book in 1946. It is the only magic book I have read by a female magician, and it makes for a very refreshing read. She covers almost all areas of magic with advice and anecdotes, but she does so in such an entertaining way that you feel positively gushing with goodwill towards your fellow magicians at the end.
She makes you feel lucky to be in the magic business! And for those who want to make a go of magic as a professional performer or dealer she offers some very sound advice. Here is what she has to say about the benefits of magic:
"If you’re sick, magic will help you feel better. If you’re poor, you won’t buy a lot of useless equipment, but will concentrate on sleight of hand, which some day may make you rich. If you’re rich, you don’t have to practice sleight of hand, but can become a collector and the envy of the poor. And if you’re grouchy, brother, you’ll mellow and melt like butter when your audience applauds your first show. You can’t stay grouchy in show business. I guess the only kind of man who can’t benefit from magic is a corpse."
Frances sadly passed away last year, having spent over seventy years in the magic business as a performer, author, and magic dealer. From reading just this one book she surely sounded like a wonderful lady!
Click here for more information.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.